NZ fire and emergency team to support NSW flood response

Te Whanganui a Tara - An incident management team from Fire and Emergency New Zealand  flies to Australia today  to support the widespread flooding response in New South Wales.

Sydney has already clinched its wettest year on record as downpours keep bringing more flooding in a region that has been drenched repeatedly in 2022. The latest deluge pushed Sydney's annual precipitation past its previous record of 86.4 inches or 2194.6 mm  set in 1950, with months to spare.

Paul Turner, Fire and Emergency New Zealand ‘s national manager response capability, says a team of 12 people will arrive in Sydney today to assist in a variety of support roles including operations, planning, public information, logistics, resources, and air support. A second team will also deploy to continue support, arriving in Sydney on November 24.

The New Zealand teams will be working two five-day rotations. There will be a rest day between the rotations and a travel day on either side.

"Significant rainfall over the last few weeks has resulted in large floods across the state. Just yesterday (13 November 2022) there were 89 flood warnings in place throughout New South Wales, 12 of which were at emergency warning level," Turner says.

"Our Australian colleagues have been doing a fantastic job over the past weeks dealing with such a significant flood response and we’re happy to answer their call for support."

"Deploying overseas enables us to support our colleagues in Australia and provide valuable development opportunities for our people," he says.

"It gives those involved experience in different environments that they can bring back home to New Zealand."

New Zealand has deployed 64 times to Australia, Canada and USA since 2000. This will be the first time deploying to assist a flood response since Fire and Emergency was formed in 2017.

Deployed personnel are from: Auckland – 3, Bay of Plenty – 1, Canterbury – 1, Hawke’s Bay – 1, Marlborough – 1, Waikato – 1, Wellington – 3, Whanganui – 1.