Westshore residents desperately grab sandbags as flooding hits. Video / Paul Taylor
Geoffrey Clark has all but written off his Westshore property as floodwaters from the swelling ocean run through it.
The timing’s crippling, as he’s still repairing damage from Cyclone Gabrielle.
The bottom end of North Terrace in Westshore, Napier was under half a metre of sea water on Monday morningas high tide brought swelling waves for the second time in two weeks.
Just less than a fortnight ago, the swell breached the Westshore embankment after seas from a northeasterly broke through the protective bund on the beachfront.
Geoffrey Clark watched the sea flood his Westshore property on Monday while he was still fixing damage caused by Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Paul Taylor
Clark and his neighbour Sarah Shand, who has lived on the street for nearly 60 years, both say that this and the flooding during Cyclone Gabrielle is the worst they have ever seen.
“Occasionally in the past, we got a little bit of freshwater because this road drains down here, and when they did it, they didn’t allow the water to go out onto the beach.”
Clark has owned his flat at the end of North Terrace for 15 years and he and his wife lived in it for 13 years before turning it into a rental, but he said this may be the end of it.
Westshore was again hit by flooding on Monday after days of heavy rain at high tide.
The house suffered $20,000 worth of damage to date to the floors, gib and kitchen from flooding caused by Cyclone Gabrielle, and work was still being done to re-line the house when this flood hit.
“I suspect it is all over. I just rebuilt the whole place, and now we are going to lose it again.”
“I daren’t tell them [the insurance company].”
When asked if that meant he was going to sell the property, he said no.
“I wouldn’t do that to someone else. I’m not that kind of person.”
The Napier seaside suburb of Westshore is hit by rising water. Photo / Paul Taylor
Shand was desperately organising sandbags for her elderly neighbour and fellow long-time resident Barbara Chambers as sea water poured over protective walls and onto their street for the second time in two weeks.
“A jewel in Napier’s crown is being allowed to flood,” Shand said on Monday at lunchtime as the high tide rolled in.
She said her son had to dig a channel by hand through the bund to allow flooded water to flow out to sea after Cyclone Gabrielle.
She said her North Terrace bungalow, which survived the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake, was outside of the flooded area, but the recent flooding made her reconsider staying there.
“The sea was there when the house was built, but I feel for my neighbours.”
James Pocock joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2021 and writes breaking news and features, with a focus on environmental, local government and post-cyclone issues in the region. He has a keen interest in finding the bigger picture in research and making it more accessible to audiences. He lives in Napier. james.pocock@nzme.co.nz.
