Man in Oratia with a failing dam can't get sense out of Civil Defence.
Paul Mitchell, who has lived in Oratia for 40 years, has never seen the dam on his property like it is today, with water bursting through the sides.
Although the water came “right up to the top” of the dam on Friday, it was only on Wednesday that the water broke through.
Mitchell had spent the weekend trying to find a contractor to reinforce the areas that had been exposed on Friday, but to no avail.Coming into Wednesday morning, Mitchell knew things were going to get “really dangerous” so he tried to call the civil defence on Tuesday night.
“I rang the civil defence last night, only to be told the office closed at 6pm.
“I then called the Wellington number but they were closed too.”Mitchell said he then tried to call the Council - but they said they couldn’t do anything because the dam is on private land.
“I was terrified. I was so scared it was going to suddenly break and the water would flow down to the houses at the bottom of the hill, and I’d have it on my conscience.”
The council called back 10 minutes later and said they would escalate Mithcell’s concerns. They said someone may be in contact, but no one was.When he woke up this morning, Mitchell realised things “weren’t good”.
“I rang 111 this morning, and suddenly all hell broke loose.“At one stage there were about 20 people here, maybe more, holding meetings.”
For Mitchell, his biggest concern is “the way the civil defence works in these situations”.“I just hope they’re able to get the water levels down now.”
Where is the outrage from our Labourites and media?
Where are the calls for the Minister to resign?
I'm not calling for those things, but when compared to their attitude to Wayne Brown it shows them to be hypocrites and politically cynical in the extreme. Perhaps it also shows the difficulties Brown may have had getting sense out of Civil Defence on Friday night.