Bay of Plenty waits out further heavy rain

By ROSALEEN MacBRAYNE

The rain returned to the flood ravaged Eastern Bay of Plenty on Saturday morning and the region was temporarily on tenterhooks again.

The state of emergency in the Whakatane district had been lifted on Friday after two long weeks. The forecast at that stage was for mostly fine weather for the next five days.

Residents could not believe it when a fresh onslaught of heavy showers descended on the region, which is still saturated and reeling from numerous landslides and a swarm of earthquakes,

It rained "off-and on, in pockets" from about 10am to noon on Saturday.

"It was kind of depressing," said Eastern Bay disaster recovery centre spokeswoman Donna Young.

"But it cleared in the afternoon and people got back into it."

The gruelling clean-up carried on for the rest of the weekend, and will continue for days and probably weeks and months.

"Overall, people are just so willing to help and do anything that is asked of them.

"It is a lesson in human nature," Donna Young said.

Community organisations and Government agencies were working together closely.

"They are very co-operative, and very generous with their time and funds."

In the worst flood-affected areas, residents were "still a little bit stunned and in some cases depressed by the reality of it all," she said yesterday. "But most are just getting on with it and not thinking too hard.

"At the moment, everyone is rallying around."

The full extent of the disaster is still being assessed.

Environment Bay of Plenty will be applying to the Government's emergency relief fund for the clean-up bill and Federated Farmers officials have asked for a comprehensive rural recovery package.