A meeting will be hosted in Roxburgh next week to give residents a chance to discuss natural hazards in the area.

The public meeting, being hosted by the Otago Regional Council (ORC) natural hazards team and Otago Emergency Management on Wednesday, July 3, also aims to gauge interest in establishing a community response group in the area.

The meeting will be hosted in two parts.

Firstly, the natural hazards team will talk about Roxburgh’s debris flows.

The topic comes on the back of a localised thunderstorm on November 26, 2017, which produced severe flooding and sediment movement, also known as debris flows, in the hills behind Roxburgh. 

It resulted in significant sediment deposition across State Highway 8 and within Roxburgh township, with the road closing in four places, and remaining impassable for several days. 

In light of such events, the ORC team will present an overview of the natural hazards in the Roxburgh area, with a particular focus on the debris flow hazard. 

In addition, the presentation will outline the project’s next steps, with the opportunity for people to ask questions.

The second part of the meeting will be led by the Otago Emergency Management.

A deluge of water flows through Roxburgh during flooding in November 2017. PHOTO: CODC

The focus of this section of the meeting would be preparedness and whether the community could function for seven, eight, or more days while waiting for critical infrastructure to be repaired, Central Otago Emergency Management Advisor Derek Shaw said.

“If we can’t stay in our homes, where do we go? What support can we expect from local or central government or are we on our own? If we’re cut off from the rest of the district, how would we cope?

“These are the questions we have to ask ourselves, especially with recent examples such as the 2023 Auckland floods and the impact of Cyclone Gabrielle on the North Island’s East Coast. Many of these questions can be answered at the public meeting, where interest in establishing a Roxburgh Civil Defence Community Response Group will also be gauged.”

Community response groups (CRG) are made up of volunteers who are organised and trained to be prepared to activate in the event that they need to support their communities, and, in a worst-case scenario to fill a void created by a catastrophic, isolating, event. 

A CRG will, with the assistance of Emergency Management Otago, prepare a Community Resilience Guide specific to the Roxburgh area. 

The group will support their community before, during, and after an emergency and help communities become more prepared and resilient.  

While the CRG will work closely with Emergency Management Otago, it has the ability to work autonomously in a crisis by using pre-planning to establish a safe Community Emergency Hub and operate it under a meaningful structure. 

Welfare of other community members is the focus of the group.  

CRG’s are not expected to do operational tasks such as Urban Search and Rescue, but will be asked to gather information so that situational awareness of the event can be relayed via phone, VHF radio, or Starlink to an Emergency Operations Centre.

Communities throughout New Zealand, including many in Central Otago/Queenstown Lakes, have operating CRG’s. 

People willing to volunteer to help form a local Roxburgh Community Response Group are asked to attend the meeting where they will be able to ask questions, discuss ideas, and be ready to activate when you may least expect it.

The meeting will take place at the Roxburgh Memorial Hall, CODC Service Centre, Scotland St, Roxburgh, from 6.30pm on Wednesday, July 3.