Call to fix trouble spots

Fire and Emergency NZ’s chief fire officer in Te Karaka, Jamie Simpson, has called on Waka Kotahi and the council to do something about flood-prone sections of State Highway 2, like Nisbett’s Dip (pictured), and on the Whatatutu Road, to better protect those communities. Picture supplied

Te Karaka fire chief Jamie Simpson has called on Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency to do something about the road at Nisbett’s Dip which floods every time there’s a fresh in the Waipaoa River.

“The flood-prone spot, four kilometres south of Te Karaka on State Highway 2 has been a flooding problem for 40-50 years,” he said.

“So they’ve had plenty of time to do something about it.

“The road level needs to be raised at that point because these flood events are becoming more common.

“Every time we get heavy rain it seems the road is flooded there and Te Karaka is cut off from Gisborne.

“It’s a fact and it won’t go away unless they do something about it.

“It certainly will not get any better by itself.”

CFO Simpson said there were also a couple of spots north of Te Karaka on SH2 that need to be raised.

“Also on the road up to Whatatutu, which would stop them from being isolated.”

Mr Simpson said his call goes out to Gisborne District Council as well as Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.

“It’s got to be a joint effort to protect the Te Karaka and Whatatutu communities.

About 130 Te Karaka residents self evacuated from their homes in at-risk areas of the township on Thursday afternoon as the river levels rose.

The banks contained the river and there were no reports of flooding involving homes.

“There’s still a lot of surface water around because everything is so saturated,” CFO Simpson said.

“At least this time it doesn’t have silt in it.”