GDC updates on cyclone recovery

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

A report for councillors last week on council activities for the five months to the end of October included a breakdown on how it will spend the vast majority of the $125m for road and bridge repairs coming its way via the Government cyclone recovery package. First it noted that detailed assessments had revealed 62 of the region’s 424 bridges were affected by the severe weather events, and erosion had affected more than 250 sections of our local road network (the current estimate for full network restoration was $425m-$725m).

Capped dollar values for the funded roading and bridge work are (in priority order) $17.5m for bridges that require strengthening; $23m to replace St Leger (Ruakaka Rd) and Grays (Bruce Rd) bridges; $27m for a roadside drainage programme; $45m for work on Tiniroto Rd, including business-case funding; and $8.5m for resilience treatment of various slips.

Valuations were in progress along with the development of tender documents for negotiation services to facilitate buyout offers for the region’s 51 Category 3 properties. Individual meetings were being scheduled with property owners, who would be assigned a dedicated “social navigator” as their primary point of contact.

Regarding flood resilience, the report said a major consequence of Cyclone Gabrielle had been reduced channel capacity, primarily caused by silt accumulation as well as significant bank erosion and loss of critical flood control structures such as stop banks.

“Nearly all damaged stop banks have been successfully repaired, with the remaining repairs expected to be completed before the end of the year.”

The Government package included $64m for flood mitigation. The report said a specific focus had been directed towards the Waipaoa River’s middle reaches, especially around Te Karaka, to find primary causes of flooding and devise long-term mitigation. Hydraulic modelling for the Te Karaka township area started in late September. This was complex work, expected to take three to four months.

Regarding woody debris, the council’s new forestry team was working on a long-term approach in a multi-agency response with Eastland Wood Council, including clean-ups of beaches and a plan to better manage this risk in the future.

There was still a significant amount of debris in our river catchments, “so we will continue to experience woody debris on our beaches for some time”.

Contracts had been awarded for work to be undertaken in the Te Arai, Waimata and Hikuwai catchment areas and contracts were being developed for Ngāti Porou to manage the removal of woody debris in the Hikuwai and Waiapu catchments.

Woody debris removal had been completed at Kaiti beach, Waikanae to Pacific Street and on the northern side of Ūawa beach. “Other beaches across the region will be prioritised for completion.”

It was expected that staff would be working on priority areas regarding woody debris through to the end of March. This included work with FENZ on a fire process that would allow high-oxygen, contained woody debris burning through the restricted fire season. They were also seeking more central government funding.