Terry Kingston spent many years as a councillor on the Central Hawke's Bay District Council and counts himself among the lucky ones whose homes escaped any major damage.
Terry Kingston spent many years as a councillor on the Central Hawke's Bay District Council and counts himself among the lucky ones whose homes escaped any major damage.
Ex Central Hawke’s Bay District Councillor Terry Kingston wasn’t going to evacuate from his Bibby St, Waipawa, property.
“Emergency services told me to go and I said ‘don’t be stupid, it’s not going to get any worse ...”
“I did go though and I’m pleased I did because the speed the water came through our properties was just staggering.”
Kingston was speaking from experience when he suggested it wouldn’t get any worse ... he’d been in Waipawa in the 1940s when the Waipawa River came through the town.
“But there weren’t all these houses here now ... nor was there a stopbank. It was that big flood in the 1940s or early 1950s that was the reason for the Tukituki Protection Scheme and the stopbanks.”
Damage at the Waipawa Holiday Park, where the Waipawa River breached the stopbank on Tuesday.
Back at his home on Thursday, with a yellow sticker on the door superseded by a ticked-off electrical checklist meaning his house was now safe to occupy, the 81-year-old who has been an active member of his community was bemoaning the fact he couldn’t pitch in to help out.
“It’s a weird feeling being helpless. All I could do was grab the cat and get out, but by the time I’d done that the traffic had gone from free-flowing to gridlock, which is unprecedented in Waipawa.
“I have lost the contents of my fridge and freezer due to the power being off for 40-odd hours, but that’s all. Others have lost so much and there’s a huge amount of work to be done. I wish I could get out and help.”
Kingston has done his bit for the morale of Bibby St though ... atop a flagpole in his front yard flies a flag featuring a bright yellow happy face. It’s flying upside down.
“It’s attracted a few comments,” he says.
Waipawa's Terry Kingston with his "unhappy face" flag which has attracted a few comments.
More comments have been coming in from not only Waipawa but nationally and internationally via Facebook, and for that Kingston says he is grateful and overwhelmed.
“People care. They really do. The messages are uplifting and the visits and offers of help are reminding me of what makes Waipawa special.”
In Waipukurau 101-year-old Walter Malcolm watched on Tuesday morning as floodwaters rose around his Belgrove Drive home, where he lives on his own - although with family next door.
Malcolm has seen more history than most in Central Hawke’s Bay and this is by far the worst flooding he’s encountered.
Walter Malcolm, 101, watched as the water surrounded his Waipukurau home.
“I was sitting inside watching, and it came within inches of disaster. By Joves, we were lucky the rain stopped when it did. I’m in a fairly modern subdivision and I would never have expected it to come up around the house.
“Then as soon as the rain stopped the water receded. I was lucky. So many people haven’t been lucky and it worries me that they just won’t be able to cope.
“It’s hard to fathom the scope of the disaster surrounding us.”
