A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
by Zita Campbell
Emergency officials gathered in Gisborne this week to look at the progress made since Cyclone Gabrielle and plan for future natural disasters.
The Tairāwhiti Civil Defence Emergency Management group met on Wednesday to discuss their work, including Tairāwhiti’s recovery one year on from Cyclone Gabrielle.
This meeting follows the Government announcement that it would provide $23.6 million for woody debris removal processing in Tairāwhiti.
Civil Defence and Emergency Management (CDEM) group manager Ben Green said Gisborne’s emergency response had been strengthened since the cyclone.
This included an emergency centre, community links (volunteer groups) and meteorological training for Tairāwhiti Emergency Management Office (TEMO) staff.
“Our job is to get ready for tomorrow,” Mr Green said of the team’s work.
“The emergency management system certainly has things to attend to.
“Climate change isn’t just a slow incremental creep into our lives. It turned up three years ago.”
The flooding of Tokomaru Bay “was the canary in the goldmine”, he said.
Of the region’s 42 communities, 12 percent were in remote areas.
It was important to connect communities, and volunteer groups had an important role to play, he said.
“People want their own mana to deal with the aspects of being in a community, and not be recipients of a welfare response.”
A desalination unit for water was ready to be deployed. This would allow communities to be self-sustaining in catastrophic events, he said.
In regard to the recovery, district councillor Rob Telfer said there was still plenty of work to do but “programmes are under way” with funding levels requiring “a prioritisation of projects”.
“We’re working with iwi. We have $27 million to look into their priorities and which roads they think need repairing,” Mr Telfer said.
A Recovery Update report discussed at the meeting covered five areas —
Large road work and woody debris
Work to remove woody debris work has been assigned and has started in Te Arai, Waimatā, Ūawa and Waiapu.
About 80 percent of the woody debris has been extracted from beaches, with work remaining in Tokomaru Bay, Ūawa, and town bridges.
Mr Telfer said an agreement had been signed with Ngāti Porou for removal, with $18m awarded over the weekend to help prioritise the work.
However, it is estimated an additional $117m is needed to finish the removal process.
Repair work on Awatere Bridge (East Cape) has been completed and the temporary Bailey bridge installed has been removed. However, five bridges remain closed.
A limited resource pool could delay progress with the large scale of work to repair bridges within and outside Gisborne.
Small roading
Eight roads remain closed to the public with 12 roads still closed for heavy vehicles.
Affected property owners
The report highlights the near completion of pre-negotiations with property owners affected by the cyclone.
House-lifting policy guidelines are being developed and the policy is being finalised with Crown Infrastructure Partners (CIP).
There are 62 high risk properties (Category 3) including nine from whenua Māori, 180 manageable risks properties (Category 2), and 14 low risk properties (Category 1).
A growing number of properties are being placed in Category 3, the report says.
Flood risk
When it comes to flood mitigation,
40 kilometres of the Waipaoa stopbank on the eastern city side has been completed.
Upgrades on the western side from the Matawhero bridge to Patutahi are on track.
An application has been made to use $64m from the Government flood risk mitigation package to fund Waipaoa stopbank workstream.
Community-led recovery
There has been a focus on community planning and events to re-engage the relationship between community groups and government.
The communities have put a lot of time and thought into their plans, the report says.
Six have been completed, one is drafted and 18 are in progress.