Latest news with #Tasman
RNZ News
19 hours ago
- Sport
- RNZ News
Pasifika Sipoti in brief for 30 July
Timoci Tavatavanawai and Emoni Narawa. Photo: Kerry Marshall / A number of All Blacks with Pasifika heritage will be in action for their provincial teams when the National Provincial Championship (NPC) kicks off this week. Queen Victoria School alumni from Fiji, Emoni Narawa and Timoci Tavatavanawai, will be on opposite ends when Bay of Plenty meets Tasman in Tauranga on Sunday. Narawa joins fellow All Black and Samoan heritage player Pasilio Tosi in the Bay of Plenty squad, while Tavatavanawai is contracted to Tasman. A number of Manu Samoa and 'Ikale Tahi reps are also expected to be in action during the NPC. Samoan-Tongan Phillip Fatialofa is set to play for New Zealand's Futsal Whites at the Continental Futsal Championship in Thailand. Oceania Football says the player is set to make his debut for Aotearoa, with the team scheduled to meet Chinese Taipei on Thursday in their first game. Fatialofa says his selection is a dream come true. With a Samoan dad and a part-Tongan mother, the 21-year-old grew up playing football in Wellington and represented Samoa at the OFC Under-19 Men's Championship in 2023. The Futsal Whites meet Thailand on Friday in their second pool game. The 'Ikale Tahi rugby squad started their preparation for the upcoming Pacific Nations Cup in Auckland at the weekend. Head coach Tevita Tuifua said the camp brought players together for the first time this year. Missing were some players who are currently committed to the NPC in New Zealand. Former All Black Salesi Piutau and France-based Ben Tameifuna are two of the senior players in the squad who were present at the camp. Around 400 RSE workers in the Bay of Plenty area will compete at the second annual RSE Sports Festival in Mount Manganui on 23 August. Led by the Bay of Plenty Rugby Union, with support from BOP Volleyball and BOP Football, the day is a collaboration between the kiwifruit industry and the local sporting groups to provide a day off the tools for hard working RSE workers. Bay of Plenty Rugby manager Ati Aaifou-Olive said the RSE Sports Festival is a new way in which the sport can give RSE workers a positive experience while in New Zealand. In 2024, 11 packhouses entered 39 teams, featuring 350 RSE workers from Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu and Tonga at the event.
RNZ News
a day ago
- Climate
- RNZ News
Heavy rain falls on Tasman again: 'We're definitely over it'
Tasman residents who have spent the last month in clean up mode have been hoping today's rain doesn't cause the same devastation seen in recent weeks. People in the district have endured two large floods and repeated orange heavy rain warnings, since the first flood caused widespread damage on 27 June. Dovedale has been hit by more rain in the latest weather event. Photo: RNZ/Mark Papalii Upper Moutere farmer Murray Silcock said it had been a worrisome few weeks. "Most farmers here were very nervous, not only farmers, the whole community is just wondering where we're heading now into the future with low lying land and flooding in houses, not just paddocks." Murray Silcock Photo: RNZ/Mark Papalii Silcock is a bull beef farmer near Dovedale. He said his farm could handle 100 millimetres of rain in one go, and on Tuesday afternoon it had already received about 60mm. Today's rain forecast - two weeks after the last flood that saw his calf-rearing sheds damaged by floodwater and inundated with silt - had him feeling anxious. "The first one softened everything and did a lot of damage, a lot of sediment, a lot of fences knocked over, then along two weeks later comes the second flood and it just played havoc." Since then, Silcock said they had been busy cleaning up. Farmlands had been supportive, organising a bulldozer and fencing gear, helping to coordinate recovery work along the Dove River and getting silt cleared out of the sheds before 2000 bobby calves arrived later this week. It has been a worrisome few weeks for farmers in the area. Photo: RNZ/Mark Papalii A fifth-generation farmer, having farmed in the area his whole life, he said it was the wettest winter he could recall. "When I looked in the diary a couple of weeks ago, it was around about 1100 mm over the last three and a half months, which is a lot of rain in this area, because a lot of that actually fell over two weeks." He estimated the clean up, building fences, reinstating culverts and fixing slips would take 12 months and cost around $200,000, only some of which would be covered by insurance. Further south at the Civil Defence centre in Tapawera, lead welfare officer Kelly Russell - who has lived in the district for nearly 30 years - said this was also the worst winter she had experienced. "We've had a couple of years where we've had a little bit of rain, a little bit of flooding, but nothing compared to this." The centre was open for anyone needing to drop in for support and would remain staffed overnight, "People are pretty stressed, there's a lot of damage in different places, the last thing we really need is more rain. It'd be nice to have a bit of sunshine but we're all hanging in there doing what we have to do, that's what you do when you're in the country." Russell said the repeat nature of the floods was difficult to deal with and she was "definitely over" the rain. "You're constantly thinking, 'are my stock safe? Is my land safe? Am I going to lose anything this time? It's hard." She was hopeful the rain would not come to much and the settlement would not experience flooding again, this time around. Tapawera NPD shop manager Sarah Jacobs said after the back-to-back floods, many in the community were exhausted. "There is definitely a sense of anxiety and fear in the air, but as I keep saying, preparation is important and this has been a really good opportunity to be prepared for other events that should happen, like earthquakes or any natural disasters." Sarah Jacobs Photo: RNZ/Mark Papalii Jacobs said it was important people had emergency kits, ready to go. "I learned that myself the hard way as I was evacuated in the first flood and had very little with me and it was four days before we could get it's definitely raised a great awareness to be ready and prepared for any disaster." The petrol station lost power for about 18 hours in the first flood and was unable to provide anyone with fuel, which included emergency services, and Jacobs said they were now exploring back-up systems to ensure they could continue to operate during future power outages. She said the community was still facing a big clean up that was likely to take months, if not years. "The mud and the silt and the sand that's just been dumped in places, it's heartbreaking and you get stuck in it and it smells." "We're definitely over it, we're looking forward to some warmer weather and some sunshine... we're ready to put this behind us now." Dovedale hit by more rain in latest weather event Photo: RNZ/Mark Papalii Tasman mayor Tim King said after a briefing this morning with MetService, the forecast had improved slightly and there was no longer a high chance of it being upgraded to a red warning. He said those in areas previously affected by flooding remained at risk and should be prepared, which included staying elsewhere if they felt unsafe. Nelson Tasman Emergency Management duty group controller Rob Smith said the region had "stood up really well today". It remains under a heavy rain warning until at least 10pm, with some parts until midnight. Service said the peak of the weather had passed in Golden Bay as the weather system moved to the east. The emergency operations centre in Tasman would continue to monitor the weather overnight. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
a day ago
- Climate
- RNZ News
'It takes a toll on people' - long-term mental health support needed for flood victims
The Tasman region has been hit by two flood emergencies and repeated orange heavy rain warnings in recent weeks. Photo: Supplied/ Jodie Reed People in the Tasman region will need long-term mental health support after devastating winter floods, a mental health advocate says. Locals have endured two flood emergencies and repeated orange heavy rain warnings in recent weeks. The Rural Support Trust said many already flood-affected residents were feeling tired and very anxious as more heavy rain fell on the region. Mental Health Foundation chief executive Shaun Robinson said when disaster struck, people were usually in a more practical mode, adrenaline pumping, and doing what they needed to do to respond. It was the aftermath that could leave some people feeling depressed, hopeless or isolated - a natural human response to a very difficult situation, he said. "It's then when you have to look at the aftermath and the fact that things are not going to go back to the way they were, that can be really difficult and that's when it can really start to affect people's mental health and well-being," Robinson said. "People need to really create a new sense of what living in that place is going to be about." He described what was happening in Tasman as an "ongoing natural disaster" rather than separate floods. Community connections made a big difference. "What we've seen and what farmers and rural people have told us from the Cyclone Gabrielle experience was that it was communities continuing to work together that made the difference to them continuing to have hope and a sense of not being alone in this and therefore boosting their resilience and mental well-being," he said. The government also needed to look at what support it provided, not only offering counselling, Robinson said. "Whatever communities do and whatever government does to respond to a situation like Tasman, really needs to be boosting those community networks, those community responses to this ongoing crisis," he said. "It is the months and even years after these major events that we need to encourage that sense of community resilience and actually put some work into creating and sustaining that community resilience. "That is certainly what the government is responsible for resourcing as part of its response to natural disasters." It was important that communities felt supported and did not feel like the country had forgotten them, he said. Robinson hoped people would feel comfortable to reach out and ask for support if they needed it. Rural Support Trust Nelson Tasman chair Richard Kempthorne said people were getting tired after heavy rain has battered the region multiple times within the space of weeks. "It certainly takes a toll on people. Many of these people who've lived in the area for years and they've lived on their properties for years and they've had flooding before," Kempthorne said. "But very few people have had a flood to this extent." Many people in the Motueka and Wai-iti valleys relied on their business in the area for income so flooding also threatened their livelihoods, he said. "During the flood event, it will just be step back and let it happen. Once it drops, what's the damage left and then what can we do? "What we encourage and what people I think are actually quite good at is to chopping it down into - what do I need to do first and what are the steps I need to take? Not trying to do it all at once and just bite one chunk off at a time." Kempthorne said people should reach out for help as there was support available. That included Taskforce Green which was going onto farms to clear debris, Big Bake in Wakefield which was preparing food for rural communities, Federated Farmers, and the Rural Support Trust which offered counselling support. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
a day ago
- Climate
- RNZ News
Top of the South Island bracing for drenching
After three extreme weather events, people at the top of the South Island are bracing for a fourth drenching in a month. Locals in Nelson and Tasman, have spent the last two weeks cleaning up after the last devastating flood. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
RNZ News
a day ago
- Climate
- RNZ News
Weather warnings across the country
Authorities in Nelson-Tasman have kept a close eye on the skies as they hope they are not in for yet more destructive flooding. It will be the fourth time this month that Tasman takes a pounding if extreme weather hits the district again. Nelson Tasman Emergency Management duty group controller Rob Smith spoke to Lisa Owen. Tags: To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
