Wairoa's storm damage bill to hit $25 million - plus a bridge

Two 40-tonne bulldozers anchor Te Reinga Bridge pending repairs to get pedestrians crossing by the end of next month and vehicles moving again by the end of winter. Photo / Supplied

Repairs to Wairoa district roads and bridges after three successive storms is expected to be more than the district's annual roading spend.

Wairoa Mayor Craig Little said Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency told him the roughly $25 million estimate this week in a visit to the district where multiple issues remain a month after the heaviest and near non-stop rain, between March 11 and March 21.

"That's $25-30 million - plus the bridge," said Little, highlighting the priority job of reopening of Te Reinga Bridge, about half-an-hour's drive north of Wairoa and the damaging of which the isolated 24 Ruakituri Valley farms amid storms is now thought to be worse than the benchmark 1988 calamity Cyclone Bola.

Tory Puncheon, of Kiwi Transport, about to load weaner steers out of Mangaroa Station road, finally open to stock trucks after 4 weeks impassable because of storm damage. Photo / Supplied

Properties such as the award-winning Mangaroa Station, farmed by Bart and Nukuhia Hadfield, recorded over 1000 millimetres of rain in the March 21-31 period.

Hawke's Bay Regional Council figures show rainfall for Ruakituri in February was one-and-a-half times the February average, and in March it was four times the March average, and Little says the land and the systems just couldn't take any more.

On April 5 his council announced the closure of the 100-metres long Te Reinga Bridge, on Ruakituri Rd and just off the Tiniroto Rd inland route from Wairoa to Gisborne, with the subsiding of two piers comprising its structure integrity.

Almost ever since, two 40-tonne bulldozers have been parked at one end chained to the piers to prevent the bridge succumbing completely, as was the fear when forecasters tracked Cyclone Fili with a possible repeat dose for Wairoa a fortnight ago.

For those of the valley and the hills to the west, at least an hour has been added to the trip each way to Wairoa or Gisborne on a tortuous mainly-gravel route through Erepiti and Ohuka roads, which has itself needed some work to cope with the extra use, from 1-2 trucks a day to as many as 15-16.

The leaning pier of Te Reinga Bridge, closed since the first week of April with hopes of being reopened as part of a storm-damage repair spend of over $25 million in Wairoa District. Photo / Supplied

Little said it may seem not a lot is happening, but behind the scenes much is being done to see that pedestrian access across the bridge is available as soon as possible, possibly by late next month, and that eventually it will be bridge-ness as usual, from family cars to stock and forestry trucks, by the end of winter.

It includes revising his own view of the national agency, conceding he hasn't always had the kindest of words to say about the NZTA but that he can't fault them on the latest mission.

It's day-by-day for the people of Ruakituri Valley, but with the ingenuity and enterprise that comes with a bit of back country resilience in times of need, and Nuku Hadfield saying there are times when no one else can help and the locals have to get on with it the best they can.

There was a sign of return to some normality last Thursday, when she and her husband, 2015 winners of the Ahuwhenua Trophy for Maori Excellence in sheep and cattle farming, loaded 230 calves on to two Kiwi Transport truck-and-trailer units, made possible only with access through Mangaroa Rd restored just the previous day.

It started to rain again and she said: "When they got to the Erepeti Rd one truck had to pull the other up due to it being greasy and wet.

"The Kiwi Transport drivers know the road, but it just shows how precarious our access situation is," she said. "It's not a road that just any truckie can drive.

"The trip to Gisborne in a truck used to take two hours, and it's is now taking 4 hours, so a lot of added time and stress."

Had Mangaroa Rd not been able to be used they probably would have driven the stock on foot across the land to be trucked-out from a neighbouring property, something another farmer had done a few days earlier, for about 17km.

It's part of the neighbour-helping-neighbour scenario, with no one in the area not seriously impacted by the closure of the bridge.

Firstly, there are the continuing logging truck operations, and need to get machinery and crews in and out to start repairing damage done by the storms.

Everyone seems to have something to do in Wairoa or Gisborne, some going to and from town on a daily basis. Two school buses would normally use the bridge, twice a day, and there are teenagers starting out in agriculture careers, needing to get to Growing Future Farmers courses in Gisborne.

"We've got people who work in town the cost of fuel [travelling] has trebled," Hadfield said.

It's sparked car pooling, and there's a community Messenger page, on which people let each other know how they can help others.

It includes Kiwi Transport advising when trucks are in and out and if there's room for more stock.

Hadfield said once people are able to walk across the bridge there'll be cars parked on either side as people try to get their trips to town back to a more manageable timeframe.

"So it really is about sharing. There is a real collaborative spirit. A manaaki."