Waiohiki's Links Rd during the cyclone (left) and six months on (right). Photos / Paul Taylor
“We have come a long way, but there is still a long way to go”.
Six months on from Cyclone Gabrielle the sentiment from a Hawke’s Bay business owner has been shared by many in the Bay as the region marks half a year, on Monday, since the cyclone.
The floods of February 14 killed eight people in the region and left hundreds of homes destroyed.
Hawke’s Bay Today has collated a series of images showing just how far some of the worst-hit areas have come in the six months since the cyclone.
The mammoth recovery for the region still has a long way to go - with bridges, roads and homes to be repaired, Category 3 house buyouts to be resolved for about 250 homes, flood protection to be improved, and millions of cubic metres of silt to be disposed of.
Esk Valley resident Bronwynne Oliver said focusing on “fixing one job at a time” had helped her rural community along Ellis Wallace Rd.
That community celebrated a big step forward on Friday when a bailey bridge was opened to replace a makeshift culvert on Ellis Wallace Rd.
It was the 10th temporary bridge or crossing that Hastings District Council has opened and replaced since the cyclone.
“It is huge - it means if [the culvert] floods we don’t have to walk the rail bridge,” Oliver said. “We are just grateful.”
Oliver, whose home was not damaged but property was impacted, said it was still heartbreaking driving to work through nearby Eskdale and seeing so many homes and properties destroyed in the once-beautiful area.
“It is horrible. If you are getting home at 6pm there is no house lights, there is no greenery, it’s barren.”
Waiohiki was also hard hit during the cyclone, and local business Silky Oak Chocolate owner Jeanette Darwen said they were slowly returning to some form of normality.
“We have come a long way, but there is still a long way to go,” she said.
“We are fortunate, there are a lot of others that are a lot worse off than ourselves.
“I still haven’t been out to Eskdale or to Dartmoor or Rissington or anything like that, because honestly I don’t think I could face it knowing what we have already lived through and what those people are still going through.”
Her business was flooded during the cyclone but has been making chocolate again since before Easter, after a big cleanup.
“We are hoping to have the gift shop open [on Monday] and hopefully the cafe as well, but we still have the pantry shop, gelatery and the museum to go,” she said.
“It’s starting to be a bit of a return to normality [but] there is still silt which keeps appearing - it will be with us for some time.”
Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said “it’s been an enormous six months and very, very tough on many”.
“Never before did we think we would be managing this.
“We started the New Year thinking that we were rocking and rolling in our district ... but the 14th of Feb has certainly changed our lives significantly.
“I’m just grateful the way everyone has worked so hard.”
Hastings District has the bulk of Cyclone 3 properties in Hawke’s Bay and was the hardest-hit district in the country in terms of cyclone damage.
Hazlehurst said the biggest focus for the council in the next six months would be going out to Category 3 homeowners to negotiate buyouts, hopefully in the first week of October, as well as continuing to rebuild infrastructure.
There are about 250 homes provisionally placed in Category 3 across Hawke’s Bay (all in Hastings or Napier districts), which means they have been deemed unsafe areas to live in for the future.
The Government and councils reached an agreement earlier this month to split the bill 50/50 for those buyouts which could cost up to $185 million.
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.