Our recovery is ongoing after strong winds swept across the district on Wednesday 21 January. Many trees and plantings around the district were damaged and while we have reopened all our roads and most tracks, there is still a lot of work to be done.

A huge thank you to the frontline workers who have put in so much time and effort into restoring our communities over the past couple of weeks. It was great to see our communities standing up and supporting each other as well. To give you a little snapshot of the response, we:

• received 97 calls on the first night
• received around 70 Antenno reports
• had over 3,000 views on our response web page
• put in around 740 hours of recovery work through our KVS teams in the week following the event

While most of our tracks are open, there are still a few closures and unknowns, so if you do head out please be prepared to turn back. With further bad weather forecast to possibly hit this week, please take care and check for weather warnings with MetService before you head out. If you come across any hazards on our tracks or while you're out and about in our district, please report them to us via the Antenno app or by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

On that note, some of our trees may show further damage over time. If you notice a damaged or dangerous tree on council land, please report it to us.

The extensive power outages across our district caused a number of streetlight issues. We are working with Powerco to resolve these - please check mpdc.nz/road for updates.

Our teams are still out and about clearing and cleaning up. If you see them working please give them plenty of space and stay out of areas that have been cordoned off.

If this weather caught you unaware or unprepared - this is an excellent time to get ready for the next one. Head to getready.govt.nz for everything you need to know about preparing for emergencies.