Beyond the seawall: a changing climate calls for dynamic solutions

On the face of it, it’s difficult to see similarities between the San Francisco Bay Area and Christchurch, New Zealand. The former is a major hub for one of the largest economies in the world with a population of over 7.5 million people, and home to tech giants like Apple, Google and Facebook. The latter is a gateway to Antarctica, historically a market town and port that services an agricultural hinterland, and home to just under 400,000 people. However, when landscape architect and UC Berkeley Professor Kristina Hill examines the two places through the bi-focal lenses of geology and landscape, unexpected parallels emerge.

Christchurch's 2011 earthquake shifted the city's water
table, leading to structures sinking into the Avon estuary.

Both places face similar challenges: how to adapt their coastal and estuarine environments to sea level rise, how to live with a high and rising groundwater table, how to factor increasing salt and freshwater flooding into planning their urban environments and infrastructure while surviving, and preferably thriving, in highly active seismic zones.

Read the Foreground story - “Beyond the seawall: a changing climate calls for dynamic solutions.”

Former cyclone Gita sparks state of emergency in New Zealand

Grey District on the West Coast has followed Christchurch and Buller District in declaring a state of emergency as the remnants of tropical cyclone Gita bears down on central New Zealand.

Raroa Rd in Aro Valley, Wellington is closed as
power lines are felled by ex-Cyclone Gita.

The council says the declaration is precautionary at this stage as the worst of the weather is yet to arrive.

Residents have been urged to stay inside and not to travel unless absolutely necessary.

Earlier on Tuesday, a state of emergency was declared for Christchurch and Buller.

Read The Age story - “Former cyclone Gita sparks state of emergency in New Zealand.”

Severe storms trigger emergency declaration, evacuations in New Zealand

The southern New Zealand city of Christchurch has declared a state of emergency amid a severe storm that has already resulted in hundreds of homes evacuated across the nation, highways cut and soldiers called in to help provide emergency services.

Evacuations are under way in New Zealand after a severe storm. 

The New Zealand Defence Force mobilised additional troops overnight to help rescue those trapped by rising floods.

Christchurch declared a state of emergency after the Heathcote River burst its banks and flooded southern parts of the city on Saturday morning, becoming the fourth area to do so after the storm lashed the South Island during the past 24 hours, causing widespread flooding.

Local media reports about 1500 people in settlements further north were told to leave their homes as water levels rose overnight, while more than 100 homes were evacuated outside Dunedin, the South Island's second-largest city.

Read the story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Severe storms trigger emergency declaration, evacuations in New Zealand.”