Cyclone Gabrielle: Lunch and a chat on Tararua District Council

Sandra James has been working with Tararua District Council on the recovery plan following Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Leanne Warr

There will be years of work ahead in the Tararua District as it recovers from the impact of Cyclone Gabrielle, says strategic adviser Sandra James.

The council has developed a 100-day recovery plan and will be working with iwi and the community, as well as various stakeholders to develop medium and long-term plans and will be talking to people in the community on the plan by holding community conversations starting May 1.

James, who has worked on recovery from the earthquake in Christchurch more than 10 years ago, as well as experience in the Kaikōura quake, Port Hills fires, flooding in Dunedin and floods in Hawke’s Bay, was working with a team on the response and recovery plan following the cyclone on February 14.

“It’s going to be a long-term recovery,” she said.

There were more than 2300 roading faults in the district, some so severe that they would need “significant design and engineering work” before a decision could be made on options.

James said that now the plan was published, the council wanted to get it out to the community as quickly as possible, as well as hear from the community on what their needs were.

“[We’ll] tell them what’s in our 100-day plan, the initial works just to keep the momentum going and hear from them, their needs for our next plan. we want to hear how we can communicate with them better.”

Mayor Tracey Collis said the sessions, which would include a barbecue lunch, would be an opportunity for members of the community to meet the team working so hard on all the different elements and for people to “gain a greater understanding what that is”.

She said members of the roading team would be there to answer questions as well.

Some of the expected questions would be around the time it was taking to do the repairs.

Collis said when people looked at roading, they forgot that teams were working in natural environments.

“Especially when we look at the Marainanga Gorge.”

Marainanga Gorge between Ākitio and Pongaroa, east of Dannevirke, was severely impacted by the cyclone. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The gorge was severely damaged by the cyclone and had been closed off since, which was inconvenient to those coastal residents and farmers who relied on it for transportation and access.

Construction was due to start at the end of last week to create temporary access for residents and stock trucks.

The Tararua District Council acknowledges how important this access route through the Marainanga Gorge is, and is committed to using local skills, knowledge, and contractors for the construction of the temporary access route.

“There was a lot of work that took place with both Horizons Regional Council and iwi to even plan and be able to get a temporary solution so quickly,” Collis said.

She said she wanted the council to be transparent and work with the community so they knew what was happening.

“There is enough anxiety.

“The more we can communicate and let people know what’s happening and hear from them as well, I think it just helps everybody understand what’s happening and just relieves some of that pressure.

“Because it is pressure on your daily life. It’s pressure on every trip you make to town, it’s pressure on those business decisions getting stock away, what do I buy in, what are my options?”

Collis said the sessions had always been planned but there was a bit of a process in recovery around the 100-day plan.

“If you go out and don’t have those answers, it doesn’t build trust in people.”

There were some big fixes around the district, such as Ākitio.

“You’ve got half a road. These are all sensitive catchments. They’ve got to be resilient fixes.”

Collis said there were some key sites that people were interested in but there was a lot of technical work to understand, such as could those sites be made resilient, what would a permanent solution look like if it could be done, as well as funding.

But that process would take more than three months.

“We are fortunate to have our roading alliance with the Tararua Alliance.”

She said with so much damage around the country, there was pressure on the teams to do their normal work as well as the emergency work.

There were already staff and skill shortages, and the impact of the cyclone had stretched resources.

“The need around the country is so high because there are so many districts and regions impacted.”

James said she had noticed that people worked really hard for their communities in times of need.

“Recovery has to be locally led because it’s local people that will see it through.”

The first session will be held on May 1 at the Herbertville Community hall from 12pm. Those who were unable to attend could take part in a survey.