What further modelling work, if any, is being undertaken by Hawke's Bay Regional Council on the technical issue affecting the Wairoa flood resilience project?

Answer

I am advised by the Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport that the Hawke's Bay Regional Council's engineering consultant has carried out further hydraulic river modelling and morphodynamic modelling (modelling of riverbed movement) to assess the risk of river avulsion under both a 1-in-100-year design flood event and events exceeding this. This confirmed that the risk of avulsion occurring in a 1-in-100-year flood event is unlikely and can be managed through additional engineering measures such as scour protection.