An aerial view of the lower part of Wairoa township and the Wairoa River mouth and bar, 10 days after the floods. Photo / Paul Taylor
An aerial view of the lower part of Wairoa township and the Wairoa River mouth and bar, 10 days after the floods. Photo / Paul Taylor
A report suggesting how to improve management of the Wairoa River mouth was “pretty well disregarded” by the regional council in the lead-up to the latest floods in Wairoa, according to the town’s mayor.
On June 26, the Wairoa River overflowed and flooded about 120 homes in the lower part of the town.
The 69-page review, which cost about $70,000, noted that in recent years “HBRC makes the bar-opening decision from Napier”.
It included a recommendation to return that decision-making ability to locally based staff and contractors, and to give them “sufficient discretion to make timely decisions”.
That review was sent to the regional council in April but email correspondence, seen by Hawke’s Bay Today, suggested it was not well received.
“On a quick read the report appears to add little to what we already know and feels rather thrown together,” HBRC chief executive Nic Peet wrote, in an email response to Wairoa District Council.
Wairoa Mayor Craig Little said he did not believe the regional council took the review or recommendations seriously.
“It was sent to them very early on in the piece when it came out in early April, and they pretty well disregarded that and came back and said it was chucked together,” he said.
The bar at the Wairoa River mouth being opened in the past. Photo / Supplied
“They didn’t really take it seriously I don’t think.
“It told you exactly what needs to be done and somehow they missed it.”
He said he wanted more local input in the decision-making for opening the bar, such as from the experienced local contractor.
A Hawke’s Bay Regional Council spokesman said the April review commissioned by Wairoa council was mainly for that council and was focused on the flooding in Cyclone Gabrielle.
“The report has been provided to our own post-cyclone review, the Hawke’s Bay Independent Flood Review, which we commissioned and which will report back to council next week.”
He said the council does work with local contractors to “bring in their knowledge” around the bar at the river mouth.
“HBRC is aware of the value of people regularly assessing the bar and of working with local contractors. We do that for all bar openings around the region,” he said.
“HBRC has a process for staff to be regularly monitoring and assessing the condition of the Wairoa bar.
“This is done both when there are no events forecast and when weather events are predicted. In doing so we work with local contractors to bring in their knowledge.”
Timeline of the floods
Local contractor Pryde Contracting was put on standby by the regional council on the Friday before the Wednesday floods to open the bar at the river mouth.
Pryde mobilised equipment to the site that afternoon and began work on Tuesday. (Pryde says it can take about two days to make an opening in the bar with machinery).
The town flooded on the Wednesday morning (June 26) at dawn. Three of Pryde Contracting’s machines were lost in the rising waters.
The regional council has defended its decision to wait until the Monday afternoon to give the go-ahead, stating there would “likely be insufficient flow in the river to keep a new opening in place” if work had started earlier.
HBRC chair Hinewai Ormsby told RNZ in the immediate aftermath of the flood: “I guess we can all agree that if the mouth could have been opened earlier, there would have been far less impact on those communities who are quite vulnerable”.
Pryde Contracting’s Hamish Pryde told RNZ, that in his opinion, “when you are dealing with people’s houses and livelihoods with flooding there should be a greater margin of error and should be more erring on the side of safety”.
However, he said it was “not really for me to decide whether that was a fair call” around the timing.
