East Coast floods: Tragic week to linger long after waters recede, MP says

Friday, 28 June 2024, 4:51 pm
Article: RNZ

Wairoa locals had been doubly affected by flooding as well as the deaths of three boaties and its effects would linger, Napier MP Katie Nimon said.

More than 400 homes have been affected by flooding after heavy rains and three fishermen died at sea during this week's storm.

The district remained in a state of emergency.

Nimon said locals were working hard to help each other even while many have damage in their own homes to address.

"It's been awesome to see the community band together and help each other out."

She would discuss with the Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey, what resources were available to support people's wellbeing, she said.

Minister for Emergency Management and Recovery Mark Mitchell has already announced the government would contribute $300,000 to the Mayoral Relief Funds to help communities in Hastings, Wairoa and Tai Rāwhiti.

He would be going to appeal to Cabinet next week for extra funding to support the town's clean up and recovery.

Nimon said the government was working with insurers and local council to understand the best way to assist people.

"It's really important for us to see what's going to be covered by insurance, what's not.

"Ministers are working really hard to take a paper to Cabinet to get what we can to get the clean-up started, so council knows what can be done without having to worry about where it falls," she said.

Civil Defence payments were also made available for people affected by severe weather on Thursday.

Wairoa resident Jon King of Kopu Road was one of the hundreds of people in Wairoa cleaning up their properties.

He was not worried about living near the river saying if the regional council managed the flow properly, his property should not flood.

Hawke's Bay Regional Council has admitted there was no doubt Wairoa would have flooded less if a channel to let the rising river release into the sea was dug sooner.

Council chairperson Hinewai Ormsby said decisions about opening the Wairoa bar were made on the best information available at the time.

But King said the council should have moved sooner to instruct contractors to dig a channel releasing the rising river into the sea.

"It never needed to happen, that mouth should have been opened ... and this is not a cyclone, this is only heavy rain, can't even handle heavy rain."

Most Haumoana residents back home

The Hastings mayor says the community has pulled together during this week's bad weather, proving everyone has learned from Cyclone Gabrielle.

A state of emergency was in place for the coastal settlement of Haumoana from Tuesday to Thursday, as high seas pounded the shoreline and dozens of people were evacuated.

Sandra Hazlehurst said contractors would be out all Matariki weekend across the district assessing damage and clearing up fallen trees and slips.

She said most Haumoana residents were now back home.

The community and its emergency response had been "incredible", she added.

"Everyone was prepared and ready, the Haumoana school emergency hub set up ran like clockwork and everyone pulled together.

"I'm just so proud of everyone for their resilience and the way they all worked together, through this."

Meanwhile a Haumoana resident told RNZ that since Cyclone Gabrielle, the council has "upped [its] game and really taken care of business".

James, who was told to leave his home on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, said that, for this emergency response, the council had enough pumps to deal with storm water, which is what caused a lot of flooding 18 months ago in Cyclone Gabrielle.

"It seems like that they've addressed that problem quite nicely, while up at the Haumoana school the facilities were set up and ready, the place was warm, everyone was friendly and they had good information, and it was really well done."

Hazlehurst said the district's road network remains vulnerable after Cyclone Gabrielle 18 months ago.

"So we have a lot of slips, everyone is working really hard. Some of the work will be programmed for later on but we're looking after the immediate over the weekend."

The mayor said just one house in Haumoana was water-damaged but many low lying properties had flooding on the section around the house, and that was something the council would be looking at.

Hazlehurst said that although the Haumoana sea crest stone wall was breaches the two seawalls at Haumoana and Clifden had performed "really well".

She said the council would look at building a third seawall at nearby Te Awanga, where some residents chose to evacuate.

One Haumoana resident said things look "much calmer" today.

Jacob Stone said the town is "pretty much back to normal" but the sea has "big swells".

He said the normally gravelly beach was strangely empty, with all the stones pushed at least 50 metres to the top of the shore.

He was woken at 4am on Tuesday by Civil Defence to evacuate but returned home on Thursday.

He said his house was fine and there was no flood damage but the storms had triggered memories of Cyclone Gabrielle 18 months ago.

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