Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty surveyed devastated rural areas in the Tararua and Central Hawke's Bay districts today. Video / Mark Mitchell
Bridges have been completely washed out and roads look more like massive holes in rural communities in the Tararua and Central Hawke’s Bay districts.
Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty surveyed the damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in more isolated rural communities from a helicopter today.
Both districts are included in the national state of emergency and McAnulty said he could see why.
Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty and Tararua District mayor Tracey Collis speaking with locals during their visit to Pōrangahau. Photo / Mark Mitchell
”The impact out in the eastern communities is substantial and there are many isolated and cut-off communities but also the impact on many farms as well.”
It was not just settlements, but also productive land that has taken a hammering in the cyclone, McAnulty said.
”We saw bridges completely washed out, we saw roads, well they were roads, they’re now massive holes.
”We saw an area that was productive farmland, now you’d be forgiven for mistaking it for a lake.”
Some 140-odd years ago the Waipawa River was diverted and now it has reclaimed its original path, McAnulty said.
”As a result, it now looks like people have built sheds in a river bed. It’s caused massive destruction to crops, to farm buildings, and many homes have been red-stickered.”
The damage was in areas that could have been missed had they not been up in the air, McAnulty said.
Rural communities were used to sticking together and helping out, he said.
”We’ve heard stories of rural communities getting together in a wool shed and going out and hunting some food so that they could keep going, knowing that eventually Civil Defence and the local authorities will get to them and that’s exactly what happened.”
But McAnulty acknowledged having no power was difficult and there was only so long people could go without it.
Lines companies had been working 14-hour days from dusk until dawn and even through the night to reconnect power, he said.
Farm buildings on Poutere Rd have been destroyed by the Waipawa River reverting to its original course. Photo / Mark Mitchell
A huge lake over farmland has formed after the Waipawa River, diverted in the 1880s, reverted to its original course. Photo / Mark Mitchell
There were originally 250,000 people without power and the last time he checked the estimate was under 60,000 people, he said.
”It’s still frustrating for those that don’t have power but I think it’s a testament to the commitment of the lines companies to try to get that much progress in such a short period of time.”
McAnulty said he was particularly struck by Pōrangahau today.
Only a few days ago the whole town had to evacuate due to the river flooding, but everyone was now banding together in the clean up, he said.
“That was a town full of hope. They said this is what they do here and they’re just getting on with the job and you can find examples of that in rural communities in every single district that’s included in this state of emergency.”
Huge slip damage to Coast Rd through the Marainanga Gorge between Ākitio and Pongaroa east of Dannevirke. Photo / Mark Mitchell
