All schools in the Te Puke district were closed on Tuesday.
All schools in the Te Puke district were closed on Tuesday.
Emergency evacuation centres, including one in Pongakawa, opened their doors for people needing a dry, safe place to stay on Monday night.
Pongakawa Action Centre was one of the emergency centres operated by local community response teams providing the bare essentials during the worst night of Cyclone Gabrielle.
Ten people spent Monday night there and a further 18 stayed at the RSA for the night.
Western Bay of Plenty District Council Civil Defence controller Peter Watson said the decision to just open the two centres was because Waihī Beach and Pukehina were the biggest concern for potential storm surges and had the largest number of potential evacuees. The heavy rain and wind had arrived in the area between 10pm and midnight and the high tide was around 1.30am.
Makahae Marae was open for anyone needing shelter overnight but, apart from whānau who had already arranged to stay there, no other evacuees spent the night there.
Spokeswoman Rangitawhai Rahiri said the idea was to make sure there was somewhere for whānau to go in the case of a late-night evacuation.
“We are going to keep it open for the next few days just in case, especially with the power outages, for people’s cooking and whatnot,” she said.
Doors were also open to the community for overnight stays at other marae across the district. Otawhiwhi Marae had three people stay the night, Tuapiro Marae had 19, and Te Rereatukahia Marae had 14.
Other sites operated by community response teams opened their doors — the Orchard Church in Te Puke, Katikati Baptist Church and Athenree Homestead and Station.
Thankfully, the storm wasn’t as bad as had been anticipated, said Peter.
‘’We had been doing a lot of messaging about what the community needs to be doing and preparing to evacuate and we have been very pleased with the response to that. People have taken those messages on board and have taken them seriously.”
The Te Puke Emergency Response Group was activated on Monday, around 8.30pm.
A large fallen branch on Fairview Place, Te Puke.
Te Puke Community Board chairwoman Kassie Ellis, who heads up the group, said members came together to support the community and The Hub and Poutiri Wellness Centre were put on standby in case their services were needed.
Around the same time as the activation, Bay of Plenty Civil Defence sent out emergency mobile alerts to residents in Maketū and Pukehina Beach due to concerns about flooding from the sea.
The message to Maketū residents stated there was a real chance they may have to evacuate and the message to Pukehina Beach residents was that people needed to be prepared to evacuate and, while it was not required, if they felt unsafe, they should go to stay with friends, family or at the evacuation centre at Pongakawa.
A number of Little Waihī Beach residents spent the night at the Orchard Church.
A state of emergency was declared by Western Bay of Plenty District Mayor James Denyer at 7.38pm Monday before the Bay of Plenty Civil Defence Emergency Management Group declared a state of emergency for the whole of the Bay of Plenty region.
