Ashburton Mayor, Neil Brown, is confident local people will be called on to help with flooding relief in the North Island.
Brown, chairperson of Civil Defence Group, Canterbury, which incorporates all local authorities in the region, has already sent Christchurch staff to Northland and believes as rescue teams and support personnel become exhausted, Civil Defence headquarters will call on people from the South Island to help.
“We have already made the offer and am waiting for them to let us know,” he said. “When the request comes it will be for people with specific skills.”
“Emergency help needs to be co-ordinated,” he explained.
Brown said the best thing local people can do is donate to the Ashburton District Council’s mayoral fund, which was set up at the time of the Auckland floods.
“We already have several thousand dollars donated, and people can specify what location they want it sent to,” he said.
“They can either drop their donation in to the council office or send it online via the council’s website.”

• By Malcolm Hopwood