The New Zealand Budget will provide $NZ100 million ($93 million) in flood protection funding following the recent North Island extreme weather events. 
 
Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty says the funds will go towards practical flood protection infrastructure such as stopbanks and other local measures that can protect communities. 
 
“The Government will work closely with impacted councils from the Far North through to the Wairarapa on interventions tailored to each region and their vulnerability to future flooding,” he said today. 
 
“Decisions on the funding will also be tied to work on the future of land-use to ensure streamlined decisions are made.” 
 
The money is on top of the standard support the Government provides to councils to repair and rebuild following a disaster and is part of a $NZ1 billion ($930 million) Budget flood and cyclone recovery package. 
 
Treasury has estimated the damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland Floods could range from $NZ9-14.5 billion ($8.4-13.5 Billion), second behind only the Canterbury earthquakes in terms of damage from natural disasters in New Zealand. Of that, $NZ5-7.5 billion ($4.7-7 billion) is expected to relate to damage to infrastructure owned by central and local government. 
 
“The recovery package responds to the immediate recovery needs of today and invests in greater resilience for tomorrow,” Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said. 
 
“This is about doing the basics – repairing and rebuilding what has been damaged and making smart investments, including $100 million of protection funding to ensure future events don’t cause the same devastation.” 
 
New Zealand Finance Minister Grant Robertson will deliver the Budget on Thursday.