A ceremony was held today to mark completion of a Bailey bridge over the Waikare River after the old one on State Highway 2 was destroyed by Cyclone Gabrielle. Video / Paul Taylor
It was enough to bring tears to the eyes when two of Hawke’s Bay’s local council representatives spoke at the opening of a State Highway 2 Bailey bridge reconnecting the Wairoa District with the rest of Hawke’s Bay.
Almost 90 days after the crucial link was shut-down by Cyclone Gabrielle, both Hastings District Council Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst and Wairoa deputy mayor Denise Eaglesome-Karekare struggled to stop emotion taking over as they spoke during a mid-Saturday blessing on the highway north of Napier-Wairoa road half-way point Putorino.
Hazlehurst, whose vast district lost 16 bridges, had almost double as many others damaged, and lost over 100km of road in the storm, faltered as she started, but recovered to say “this is the day we have been waiting for,” even it was only one-step in a recovery expected to take years.
And Eaglesome-Karakare, standing-in for Mayor of Wairoa Craig Little, who had the business of a daughter’s graduation elsewhere, had to remind herself as she started to speak: “Stop being emotional about this.”
A drone's-eye view of the destroyed bridge, the Bailey bridge, and the gathering marking the reconnection of Wairoa with the rest of Hawke's Bay, almost 90 days after Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Paul Taylor
But it was with good reason, as she stood among the gathering at the northern end of the temporary, one-lane, wooden-decked bridge, the result of a combined effort by national highways management agency Waka Kotahi NZTA, councils and contractors Downer and Higgins to get a link back for the 9000-plus people of the Wairoa District, and the health and other services they need to access further south.
“The road is the lifeline to the services the people here need to access,” she said, with the signs of the February 13-14 calamity evident just metres away, in the mangled structure of the old bridge and the mountains of timber that knocked it over.
Tireless work crews suspended the mahi for a few minutes before continuing the job of installing about 150 metres of guard rail which needed to be in place by the time the road would be properly open to traffic at 7am on Sunday (to 6pm daily).
The destroyed Waikare River bridge (foreground) and the new Bailey bridge and the gathering at its blessing on Saturday. Photo / Paul Taylor
“Ninety days is a long time,” said Eaglesome-Karekare, getting in her bit about the timber and mountains of debris. “Our community has been waiting for this. Don’t let it happen again. Water doesn’t collapse bridges. Debris does.”
It was possibly the only display of any form of politics in an hour that was kept mainly local, with no MPs in attendance, and apologies tendered for the absences of Minister of Transport Michael Wood, Minister of Regional Development and East Coast MP Kiritapu Allan each unable to attend, and for Regional Council chair Hinewai Ormsby, with her council represented by Wairoa member Di Roadley.
Tangoio kaumatua Bevan Taylor explains the procedure before the blessing of the bridge amid a walkover by dignitaries and others gathered for the occasion. Photo / Paul Taylor
The formalities were led by Tangoio kaumatua Bevan Taylor, representing the iwi of Maungaharuru-Tangitu, Maungaharuru mainly to the south, matua Duane Culshaw, chairman at Raupunga’s Te Huki Marae and representative of the Mohaka area’s Ngati Pahauwera, and lay Anglican minister Chaans Tumataroa-Clarke.
The NZTA’s regional manager of maintenance and operations, Jaclyn Hankin, represented the agency.
Those from nearby included Violet Tumataroa, who hails from Mohaka but who’s lived at Putorino for more than 40 years, running the store until she had to close because of Cyclone Bola in 1988.
Deputy mayor of Wairoa Denise Eaglesome-Karekare, and Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst linked together at the opening. So are the two districts now. Photo / Paul Taylor
Among others was Graham Roadley, a farmer from Ruakituri Valley, northwest of Wairoa, where links to the outside world, for about 400 residents, have been disrupted for more than 14 months, firstly by the destabilising of the Te Reinga Bridge in floods in March last year.
Repairs meant some restoration of access across the bridge, by Gabrielle wrecked it, although possibly hastening its eventual replacement.
He said most people had not been completely trapped – “there were ways out” – but trips to town, for those who can get there, are trebled in time on tenuous routes, and they yearn for the “20-week job” they’ve been told could be implemented to erect a new bridge, albeit temporary.
Higgins Hawke’s Bay regional manager Andrew Shannon said that staff became determined to have the Waikare Bailey bridge open in time for the ceremony, revealing that even when a threat of rain put sealing of the approaches in doubt there was still a “Plan B”.
The work had included trying to protect the bridge and its approaches from further weather events, from the powers of nature.
“The power of the water….look at this,” he said, recalling when he first saw the devastation at the site. “It’s frightening. Whether it’s slash or debris falling off the banks, it’s only got one way to go.”
Minister Kiritapu Allan, in a statement released in Wellington, said: “Cyclone Gabrielle caused damage to almost 100 sites on this stretch of highway, including burying Devil’s Elbow in under two metres of silt, destroying the bridge over Waikare Gorge and cutting off the communities of north and south of Waikare Gorge.”
“It’s been a bloody tough few months for these communities and we’ve been focused on restoring that access as quickly and as safely as we can to ensure local communities, whanau, freight, farmers, businesses, and tourism can be reconnected as soon as possible.”
