Cyclone Gabrielle: Two Hawke’s Bay locations given green light by council to rebuild

The stopbank rebuild in Awatoto, pictured in March 2023. Photo / Hawke's Bay Regional Council

Homeowners in flood-hit parts of Awatoto have been given the green light to rebuild as part of the first changes to cyclone land zoning categorisations since maps were released at the end of May.

Two areas, one in Meeanee/Awatoto in Napier and one in Omahu in Hastings, that were previously classified as 2C have now been downgraded to Category 1, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council announced on Tuesday.

Parts of Omahu remain classified as 2P, while parts of Brookfields (across the river from Meeanee and Awatoto) remain in category 3.

The downgrade of the 2C land area means property owners are now able to make decisions about rebuilding their properties and lives.

HBRC said the reason for the downgrade was due to confirmation that stopbank breach repairs carried out at these locations had returned stopbanks to pre-cyclone status of about 1:100 year.

This translated to about a one per cent chance of it being exceeded in any given year.

“This is great news for residents in these affected areas. It allows them to move forward,” Regional Council chair Hinewai Ormsby said.

“I know the staff have worked hard to repair stopbank breaches and are working as hard as they can on the ongoing restoration work for repairing scours of the region’s stopbanks.”

Provisional maps from HBRC showing the previous 2C area, which has now been downgraded to Category 1. Photo / Hawke's Bay Regional Council

Ormsby said council would continue to update residents of affected areas and let them know if there would be any changes to their zoning classifications.

“We look forward to releasing other areas currently categorised as 2C in the future,” she said.

Council also confirmed that all stopbank breach repairs on the Tūtaekurī and Ngaruroro rivers had been completed.

Repairs on Central Hawke’s Bay rivers that have been assigned to the Regional Council’s rapid rebuild team were also well advanced, Council said.

“Staff are progressing repairs on the scours in stopbanks, with many complete,” a statement said.