Evacuations are under way in parts of Tai Rāwhiti, with police going door to door, as heavy rains and wind continue to lash the district.
Little told Checkpoint the weather had been “devastating”, with some previously existing homes that had never been underwater getting submerged as well as new homes built after Cyclone Gabrielle.
We’re pretty stupid, aren’t we
Yet, when a council says “you can’t build there it’ll flood in a one-in-fifty year event” they get called obstructive, litigated, and then a developer builds there anyway and sells at a premium.
When I bought my home, I actually considered floods, climate change, and the imminent west Antarctic ice sheet collapse with the the resulting sea level rise.
We’ve known about climate change for a hundred years and are still acting all surprised that it is happening.
