Bay of Plenty Regional Council will review its warning systems, after a damning report on April's Edgecumbe floods.

An independent review has found the flood, which destroyed 15 homes and damaged hundreds more, could easily have led to a loss of life.

It's found councils and civil defence authorities failed to adequately warn residents before the stop-bank breached.

Regional council chairman Doug Leader told Larry Williams the evacuation plan should have kicked in much sooner.

"The trigger levels that were set, in terms of the flood levels were extremely high. The advice from the panel is that it is unlikely they would ever have been met."

LISTEN ABOVE AS DOUG LEADER SPEAKS WITH LARRY WILLIAMS