Historical emergencies

Heavy rainfall impacted the Otago region, particularly Dunedin and the Clutha District. A State of local emergency was declared for Dunedin City  at 11:55pm on 3 October 2024 due to significant impacts caused by heavy rainfall. A State of local emergency was declared for Clutha District at 1:05pm on 4 October 2024 due to significant flooding impacts. Both states of emergency were terminated on 6 October 2024.

Heavy rainfall caused significant surface flooding in the Gore district. A state of local emergency was declared on 21 September 2023.

Heavy rainfall caused flooding in Queenstown. A state of local emergency was declared on 22 September 2023.

Cyclone Gabrielle caused severe impacts in may parts of New Zealand from 12 February 2023. Local states of emergency were already in place for Auckland and Waikato. Further local states of emergency were declared for Northland, Bay of Plenty, Opotiki District, Whakatane District, Waikato District, Hauraki District, Tairawhiti, and Tararua District. At 8:43am on 14 February 2023 a State of National Emergency declared owing to Cyclone Gabrielle for the Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Tairāwhiti and Hawke's Bay Regions. A further declaration was made at 1:17pm on 14 February to include the Tararua District. The state of national emergency was extended on Tuesday the 21st of February, Tuesday the 28th of February, and Tuesday the 7th of March, with each extension lasting an additional seven days. As of the 28th of February, the State of National Emergency concluded for the Bay of Plenty region. On the 3rd of March, the State of National Emergency was concluded in Northland, Auckland, Waikato, and the Tararua District. The State of National Emergency, which encompassed Tairāwhiti and Hawke's Bay, concluded on the 14th of March and was replaced with a National Transition Period.

A local state of emergency for Auckland was declared on 27 January 2023 owing to severe weather. The declaration was extended on 3 February 2023 and again on 9 February 2023. The state of local emergency ended on 14 February 2023 when a State of National Emergency was declared.

A heavy rain event caused impacts across the top of south island. States of local emergency were declared for the West Coast region on 16 August 2022, Nelson-Tasman region on 17 August 2022 and Marlborough region on 19 August 2022. The Nelson-Tasman and Marlborough regions were particularly affected by significant flooding and slips requiring evacuations and cutting off road access to some communities.

A local State of Emergency for the Pleasant Point- Temuka Ward was declared on 20 July 2022. due to a heavy rain flood event.  The severe weather also impacted many other parts of the country causing flooding, slips and road closures. The local state of emergency expired on 27 July 2022 and was replaced with a notice of a local transition period.

Tairāwhiti Civil Defence declared a local state of emergency at 2pm 04 November 2021 for heavy rain causing flooding in the Tairāwhiti region. This was terminated on the following day.

A state of local emergency was declared for Napier City on 9 November 2020 due widespread flooding after heavy rain. The declaration was lifted on 13 November 2020.

Widespread flooding in the lower South Island resulted in evacuations in Milford, Gore, Mataura and Wyndham, and extensive road closures across the Southland region.

A State of Emergency was declared for the Fiordland Community Board Area on 3 February 2020 owing to flooding in the Fiordland area. On 4 February States of Emergency were declared in for the Southland Region, including Gore, and for the Clutha District owing to widespread flooding. The State of Emergency for the Clutha District was lifted on 7 February. The State of Emergency for Southland ended on Tuesday 18 February and was replaced with a Transition Notice.

A local state of emergency was declared in the Timaru District on 7 December 2019 due to flooding in the Rangitata area. The state of emergency was lifted on 13 December 2019.

State of emergency declared for Rotorua (5:35pm Sunday 29 April) following flooding in Ngongotaha. Some evacuations and damage to residential properties occured.

The state of emergency expired at 5:35pm Sunday 6 May. 

Local states of emergency were declared from 21 July 2017 for Canterbury (Selwyn, Christchurch and Timaru Districts) and Otago (originally Waitaki and Dunedin City Districts, then superseded by a region-wide declaration) in response to heavy rainfall and flooding. All declarations were terminated or superseded by notice of local transition period by 25 July 2017.

Whanganui Town Bridge river levels peaked at approximately 6am this morning at 7.4 metres, which means flooding concerns have receded for the district.

A state of local emergency was declared for Franz Josef at 2:00am on 24 March 2016 as a result of the Waiho River flooding. Westland Civil Defence has issued a boil water notice for the whole of the Franz Josef town water supply area. This will stay in effect until further notice as a safety precaution. The town water supply is secure for the main town area and work is continuing to confirm the integrity of the supply to the wider Franz Josef area particularly to the north of the Town Centre. There is currently no unbooked overnight accommodation available in the greater Franz Josef area. There is a Red Cross Welfare Centre set up in the town and on standby if needed. All state highways north and south of Franz Josef are currently open and all booked accommodation will be honoured unless visitors are contacted by accommodation providers directly. The Civil Defence state of emergency will stay in place overnight and will be reviewed at 9.00am tomorrow morning (25 March 2016).

Westland District Council has transitioned to a recovery phase. Council staff have a Recovery team in place monitoring the cleanup of the town centre and surrounding streets, and are liaising with affected property owners. If there are any concerns about your property or safety please contact Westland District Council on 0800 474 834 or visit www.westlanddc.govt.nz/flooding-update for more information.

Taranaki CDEM is in the recovery phase of the June 20-21 heavy rain and flooding event. The Taranaki CDEM Group continues to work alongside response and lifeline agencies to begin the recovery from the disaster, and the immediate and critical needs of households and communities affected by the flooding will be met for as long as necessary. Visit www.trc.govt.nz/Taranaki-Civil-Defence/ for more information.

Mayor Annette Main lifted the state of local emergency for the Wanganui District as at 12 noon Thursday, 2 July 2015. The emergency status had been in place since Saturday June 20, after the district experienced a massive amount of localised rainfall resulting in flooding. Information on the recovery efforts are available at www.wanganui.govt.nz.

Flooding and Severe Weather is affecting parts of the Wellington Region - Kapiti Coast, Wairarapa and Lower Hutt. See http://getprepared.org.nz/status for details.

The current weather situation in Buller has subsided and surface flooding is dropping. However, further heavy rainfall is forecast for the Buller in the early hours of tomorrow morning. Buller Civil Defence encourages residents to make provisions and to prepare themselves as much as possible.