Northland

It’s been more than a century since flood protection work began around the Awanui River. Initial works in the early 1900s focused on bringing land near the harbour into production by preventing tidal flooding. Stopbanks and floodgates gradually extended upstream to provide flood management for more productive floodplain land.

More than $5 million of long-awaited staged works designed to substantially reduce the flood risk to the small Northland centres of Otiria and Moerewa are under way.