Some long-term Wairoa residents and business owners are so exasperated by an increasing number of floods hitting the northern Hawke’s Bay township that they’re considering leaving town.
They say solutions are needed immediately to better manage the Wairoa River mouth.
Wairoa resident Rob Gregory has lived in the same house on Kopu Rd for 34 years and has been flooded twice in the past seven months, last November and again on Wednesday.
Prior to those incidents, his home had never flooded.
Over 1m-high floodwaters swept through his garage and basement on Wednesday while his and his wife’s two vehicles were “bouncing around in the waves” on the driveway.
His home was one of over 100 in the lower part of Wairoa to be overwhelmed, with water getting into those homes, while other properties were also impacted to a lesser extent.
Remarkably, no one was injured.
Gregory said even during Cyclone Gabrielle last February, and Cyclone Bola in 1988, floodwaters did not reach his house which is directly across the road from the river.
He said he’s “had a guts-full” and believed the most recent flooding events were directly related to Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC) not clearing the bar early enough at the Wairoa River mouth, which according to Mayor Craig Little takes over two days to open with machinery.
”It was the same scenario with the bar, the water backed up,” Gregory said, of both floods which inundated his home.
”This is the third time [there has been flooding] since Cyclone Gabrielle.
”Cyclone Bola never even came across the road.”
He said “there are a lot of pissed off people at the moment”.
”I was up at 3am [on Wednesday] and it was not too bad,” Gregory said.
”It had not come across the road by then, but all of a sudden, man, it just came straight across the road, well before high tide.”
He said he and his wife were seriously considering what to do now, and were even considering re-settling in Christchurch.
Gregory’s former business, ITM Wairoa, located north of the river in the North Clyde part of the CBD, was also badly flooded in Cyclone Gabrielle last February.
His home is insured, but he said it was getting to the stage where it was going to become uninsurable, due to the growing number of flood incidents.
HBRC put contractors on standby on the Friday before the floods, for the Wairoa River bar, which is a raised area of sediment that builds up in the mouth of the Wairoa River.
However, they did not begin work to open it until Tuesday - the day before the floods.
“At the time [on Friday], the forecast rain didn’t justify starting the work as there would likely be insufficient flow in the river to keep a new opening in place,” Chris Dolley, HBRC group manager of asset management, said.
MetService issued orange rain warnings for northern parts of Hawke’s Bay around Wairoa about 10am Monday.
With the revised forecast, Dolley said the HBRC identified Wednesday as the best opportunity to successfully open the river mouth.
“[Contractor] Pryde mobilised equipment to the site on Monday afternoon and began work on Tuesday.”
Two diggers and a bulldozer, owned by the contractor, used to try and open the bar, were lost on Tuesday in the high waters.
HBRC chairwoman Hinewai Ormsby said the process to open the bar was complex.
“You need to open one and shut the other because there are two pathways to the river.”
Gregory’s neighbour Libby Young has lived in her home since 2009.
Her and her husband’s home is on stilts and did not flood on Wednesday.
However, their garage was badly inundated by floodwaters, where her husband runs a motorbike mechanic business.
She said they had probably suffered $250,000 worth of damage to gear, tools and parts.
“Three times since November [we’ve flooded].
”The only other time it has even got to the letterbox was around 2011.
”You can’t run a business when you are doing this [clean-up] three times a year.”
She said if the bar at the nearby river mouth was better managed they would likely stay put, but it would not be viable to stay if the problem was not better addressed.
Little said he relayed concerns to the regional council on Monday afternoon - two days before the flooding - that the bar should be opened, following locals voicing concerns to him.
Cyclone Gabrielle last February also badly flooded other parts of the town with many residents still displaced from that natural disaster.
Last year, the Government announced $70 million for flood protection work along the Wairoa River, which currently does not have any flood protection such as stopbanks.
Work is still being done on confirming a final design for that work.
Financial support is the best way to help Wairoa people who have been impacted by recent flooding.
Wairoa Mayor Craig Little has extended a huge thank you to everyone who has supported Wairoa during this challenging time.
”This event is just devasting on top of what we have already been through.
“For me it is absolutely heartbreaking to see people’s livelihoods be washed away and their lifetime of memories left in a wet sodden heap outside their homes.
”Wairoa has been overwhelmed with aroha but we just don’t have the capacity to manage physical donations.
“If we do need anything specifically, we will reach out.
”The best way to help our community is by making a financial donation to our Givealittle page or donations to the Wairoa Mayoral Relief Fund.
The fund has been reset for the June flooding and was kickstarted by a $100,000 donation by the Minster for Emergency Management Mark Mitchell.
“The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council has also made an initial grant of $100,000 to the fund, on behalf of the wider community, at the request of Little, to support the removal of flood-affected under house insulation.
If you wish to make a donation to the Wairoa Flood Mayoral Relief Fund, the account number is 03-0785-0070470-00 using the reference “JUNE FLOOD”.
To make a Givealittle donation go to the website.
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.
Paunovic moved to Havelock North with her family from Croatia seven years ago.