Cyclone Gabrielle: Hawke’s Bay homeowners in limbo respond to $100 million to improve stopbanks

The Ngaruroro River breached a stopbank at Omahu (pictured) near Hastings during Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Dawson Bliss

A $100 million investment for improved stopbanks and flood protection work has provided little comfort for flood victim Rebecca Kamau, who has unanswered questions about the future of her family home on the outskirts of Hastings.

The stopbank close to her home in Omahu breached during Cyclone Gabrielle on February 14 and her family’s home was badly flooded.

It was yellow-stickered, and decisions are yet to be made by the Government’s Cyclone Taskforce around whether that area will be categorised as unsafe to build on, or whether conditions may be required for homeowners such as raising their homes.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins visited Hawke’s Bay and announced a large funding package, including $100 million for improved stopbanks and flood protection for impacted communities in the North Island.

Kamau said safety was a big concern for her family in weighing up whether to move back to their property in the future and deciding what was possible on their ancestral whenua [land].

Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Prime Minister Chris Hipkins at a pre-Budget announcement in Taradale on Sunday. Photo / Warren Buckland

She said the latest funding announcement could help improve safety in Omahu, but “it depends on what their plan is”.

She said that for her to feel safe, more would need to be done than simply repairing the stopbank.

“If anything happens like that again, they should be able to channel the water somewhere else [further upriver].”

She said her family was “doing what we can while we’re waiting” for announcements around zoning and insurance.

Kamau said that process was rather slow and it felt like they were in limbo.

She said a lot of people asked her whether she would move back home in the future, but she said it was difficult to answer that question at present with so much uncertainty.

Work continued on stopbanks near Fernhill and Omahu this week. Photo / Warren Buckland

“That is the main question people ask - would you move back when you have experienced something like that?

“We have land right next to where the stopbank broke. We were in the process of redesigning our site plan for a papakainga [housing on ancestoral land].

“It is just a matter of feeling safe and what safe looks like with our local councils, and what their plans are and their risk management.

“As mana whenua, our whakapapa [genealogy] status to the land and matauranga [knowledge] need to be included in the decision-making process.”

She said it would be difficult to leave her whenua in the future if it was deemed unsafe to live on, and that property had been in her family for generations.

She said the land next to her home and the stopbank was owned by the HNK Whānau Trust.

Kamau, who is currently living in a motel supplied by the Temporary Accommodation Service, said the support people were showing each other had been a good thing to come out of the cyclone.

“That is the lovely thing to see, people from all over the motu [island] coming together for the greater good, and to help their fellow man.”

Blenheim-based Tinto Containers generously donated a container home to her family, including her partner and their sons, in March. They are in the process of setting up temporary accommodation, including that container at her home, and coming up with a housing plan.

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council chairwoman Hinewai Ormsby said the flood protection funding would help the region’s resilience against major climate events, and a review was under way into what needed to change in the region’s flood schemes.

“We will take these learnings and reconfigure our flood schemes, using the Hawke’s Bay part of this funding, so they behave in a known way in big climate events.”