Rangitikei Civil Defence Response Team

27/05/2026

Nothing like a playground to create an obstacle course for patient care and extrication

29/04/2026

Woohoo thanks to a generous grant allocation from Pub Charity Limited our Team will soon be even more recognizable in the official NZ-RT uniform! As a registered charity we rely on the generous support of organizations such as Pub Charity to help fund initiatives such as this. Thanks again Pub Charity, we couldn't have done this without your support :)

22/04/2026

Share the load, support your community.

18/04/2026

The team have been helping out our neighbours at Whanganui CDEM. Whanganui and Ruapehu Districts declared States of Emergency this morning due to heavy rainfall into the catchment of the Whanganui river, this has lead to the river flooding/threatening to flood. The team have been door knocking along Anzac Parade, Putiki, and Taupo Quay in Whanganui, ensuring residents know what to do and where to go should the river overtop.

25/02/2026

Another callout for our team today. Our UAS capabilities were utilised working alongside Horizons Regional Council, Manawatu Whanganui CDEM Group, NZ-RT 4, Police SAR, and Police UAS assets, searching the Manawatu river in Palmerston North.

22/02/2026

Although we weren’t a recognised response team back then, we still headed down to Christchurch to help out. 15 years ago today, and we still have four members in our team who went to help.

17/02/2026

Well, what can I say, its been a busy few days for the team. Starting early Sunday afternoon the team were tasked to prewarn residents in the Whangaehu River catchment of forecast flooding, as the storm took hold and intensified, the team returned to base (after avoiding falling trees!) and set in for a late night undertaking recce taskings. It was a wild ride through the storm with horizontal rain and winds like Ive never seen before. Monday and Tuesday were more recce taskings, welfare checks, and community engagement, with the team being stood down Tuesday afternoon. FYI the Rangitikei District is 4,483.88 km2 with approximately 1,222.5 kilometres of formed roads, consisting of 1,137.9 km of rural roads and 84.6 km of urban roads. The network is characterized by a high proportion of unsealed, rural roads hence the teams driving, map reading, navigation, and 4wd skills were really tested.

If you're reading this and thinking "I'd like to help, how can I help next time" the team are recruiting and will be holding an information evening in the near future.

15/02/2026

As the storm starts to take hold its important to heed the messages, stay safe, dont travel if its not absolutely necessary, and never drive through flood waters. FYI the team are safe and well, heading back to base now :)

15/02/2026

The team out doing the mahi! Stay safe, stay warm, theres Pizza's waiting for you when you get back to the depot :)

15/02/2026

Whangaehu and Turakina residents, keep an eye on the river heights, there’s potential for the rivers to rise overnight and into tomorrow.

Our team are currently out and about in the lower Whangaehu valley knocking on doors and asking residents to be prepared.

Here is the situation as we know it this afternoon.

⚠️ There are multiple weather watches and warnings across our region.

🔴MetService New Zealand has issued a red-level severe weather warning for Manawatū, Rangitīkei and Ruapehu districts north of Feilding and east of State Highway 1. Expect 140 to 180mm of rain from 6pm tonight until 2pm Monday. See the post pinned to our page for more info.

🟠Orange-level rain warnings are still place for the Tararua District, south-western Ruapehu and northern Whanganui, while Tararua District also has a strong wind warning in place.

💧Waterways across the region are expected to rise significantly as rain falls during the night. This includes the Manawatū, Makino, Pohangina, Ōroua, Rangitīkei, Turakina and Whangaehu rivers.

⛰️ It is highly likely there will be landslides across the region.
MetService has described the event as “significant and dangerous” and people should take precautionary measures immediately.

📍Tararua District Council have declared a pre-emptive state of emergency for the entire district. This declaration enables TDC and emergency services to act quickly and coordinate resources if conditions worsen.

No matter where you are in the region, you need to be aware of this event and take it seriously. This is not "pina colada in the rain" weather, but a serious emergency which will create unsafe conditions.

✅Prepare while there is daylight. It is easier and safer to pre-emptively evacuate during daylight than trying to do so when it's dangerous at night.
✅If in doubt, get out – this applies to people and stock. You are best to pre-emptively evacuate areas during daylight, rather than waiting for conditions to worsen overnight.
✅Avoid any unessential travel. If you have travelled for the weekend and plan to return home later tonight, either bring forward your travel plans or look for somewhere to stay overnight.
✅Never, ever try to walk, play, swim or drive in flood water.
Important information

🚘 Roading conditions

🛑 State Highway 56 at Ōpiki is likely to become impassable early Monday morning due to flooding.
🛑 State Highway 3 at Whangaehu is likely to become impassable overnight due to flooding.

🚧 On current forecasts, Horizons Regional Council will need to operate the Makino floodgates at Feilding and the Moutoa floodgates on the Manawatū River overnight.

We will send more updates throughout the evening. Past updates are available via our website https://www.mwcdem.govt.nz/ and on our page.

For details of weather watches and warnings, see https://www.metservice.com/warnings/home.