Communities across the country look back on the biggest storm to hit New Zealand this century.
Video / Corey Fleming / Zoe McIntosh / Getty Images
The last major Cyclone Gabrielle flood review concludes Māori communities were “disproportionately affected” by the disaster in Hawke’s Bay.
Residents of Waiohiki, which has a high Māori population, also felt they received “different treatment” when it came to flood protection, the review panel found.
The review investigated what caused the Cyclone Gabrielle floods of February 14, 2023, and reviewed the regional council’s flood management schemes, including its stopbank network.
Eight people died in Hawke’s Bay and the floods caused about $5 billion of damage and losses to the region.
“Many marae, urupā (cemeteries) and papakāinga (housing built on ancestral Maori land) were destroyed or extensively damaged, including [at] Tāngoio, Petane, Waiohiki, Ōmahu, Rongomaraeroa, Mōteo and Tākitimu,” the report reads.
Tāngoio Marae was devastated by the February 2023 floods. Photo / Warren Buckland
“It is clear that mana whenua (indigenous people of the land) have been disproportionately affected by this flood event.
“The kōrero (conversations) that we were given was that, with little-to-no high-country lands left in their landholdings because of pākehā occupation, the low-lying land next to rivers was often all that remained and, by default, became the places where more permanent and modern marae and papakāinga were constructed.
“In many places, there were known flood risks and no structural flood defences to manage them.”
A review panellist said Māori communities in flood-prone areas such as Tāngoio, Petane near Eskdale, and Waiohiki were based on the last remaining land of what was once much-larger landholdings.
The report states there was a big challenge for marae and hapū in Category 3 areas because their desire to remain contrasted with the risks of staying.
The report had 47 recommendations, of which six were relevant to mana whenua. These included for the regional council to develop a new flood management model with mana whenua and “acknowledge the inequity whereby Māori land and communities have been marginalised”.
Council chairwoman Hinewai Ormsby said the organisation had “a great Māori partnerships team that work at that marae level and we need to strengthen that partnership going forward”.
Waiohiki floods
Waiohiki near Napier was badly flooded including 90 of 100 papakainga homes built on ancestral Māori land.
Damage to properties from cyclone flooding at Waiohiki. Photo / Warren Buckland
The review highlighted that Taradale (which has a much larger population) on the other side of the Tūtaekurī River was not flooded, largely due to a higher stopbank that had recently been upgraded.
“In the event of Cyclone Gabrielle, the stopbank system that was supposed to be built [at Waiohiki] was in pre-feasibility stage, it was in a planning stage and is around a 1.5km stopbank to be built where there is a gap,” Ormsby said.
Ormsby, who lived in Waiohiki, said the area would have been better protected had the cyclone hit a couple of years later.
“It is a timing thing, it was in the planning process, but it wasn’t built early enough.”
Review panellist and barrister Bernadette Arapere said the Waiohiki community had voiced concerns about a perceived lack of flood protection compared with Taradale.
“There is a perception in some communities of a different treatment.”
Gary Hamilton-Irvine is a Hawke’s Bay-based reporter who covers a range of news topics including business, councils, breaking news and cyclone recovery. He formerly worked at News Corp Australia.
