Heavy flooding in Anaura Bay, Gisborne District.
Video / Fontz Davoren / Uawa Civil Defence - Tolaga Bay East Coast / Julie Siemonek
The perilous work environment of road workers trying to connect East Coasters with Gisborne includes the ever-present threat of boulders, trees and other slips coming down on them while they work around the clock.
And the workload is so great in the region hammered by last week's flooding - and subsequent ongoing heavy rainfall - that staff isolating with Covid-19 have been called up to work in one-person crews.
Repairs enabling the Mangahauini Bridge, at Tokomaru Bay, to be used again could take up to two weeks to complete. Photo / Tairāwhiti Contractors
The East Coast has been in a state of emergency since torrential rain caused widespread flooding, leading to early-morning evacuations of residents around Tokomaru Bay and causing widespread damage to region's roading network.
That includes multiple and sizeable slips and washouts on State Highway 35, the route which connects Gisborne to Opōtiki.
As the huge clean-up continues, Tairāwhiti Contractors' managing director Kat Kaiwai opened up about the challenges, and dangers, facing her crews who have been working tirelessly on the roading network for the past week.
"Everything all the time is pretty much a close call," Kaiwai told the Herald.
"It is [dangerous] for all of the crews . . . for those who are working in the river, the ones who are going out doing inspections. It is everywhere.
A large slip featuring mud and boulders from a hill closed a section of SH38 through Te Urewera on Friday. Photo / Neil Reid
"You have risks of slips coming down on top of you, risks of boulders coming off bluffs falling on top of you, trees which are already hanging coming down on top of you, risks of the road [going] out from underneath you..."
The risks were highlighted over the weekend when a large pine tree fell on to the cab of a grader working to clear a slip on SH2 near Wairoa. Thankfully, the grader's driver was unhurt.
To minimise risks, Tairāwhiti Contractors' crews have "spotters" in place to monitor factors such as water levels and potential signs of any imminent slips.
SH35 was one of the roads worst damaged by the flooding. The continued rainfall has contributed to the state of emergency being extended to at least next Wednesday.
East Coast residents are blocked off from others after a series of serious of road slips and collapses. Photo / Tairāwhiti Contractors
A section between Te Puia Springs and Tokomaru Bay remains closed due to slips and the washout of the latter's Mangahauini Bridge.
More than 1000 tonnes of rock has placed around the bridge during the lengthy repair job which will take up to two weeks to complete.
Roads that remained open were also "very dangerous" due to how quickly conditions can change, Kaiwai said.
"I was doing inspections on the highway and had gone over a section of highway the day before and there were absolutely no cracks in it," she said.
"When I went back on Monday a whole half of a lane had gone down into a river. The road is not the same every hour.
"Just because you went through 10 minutes ago, doesn't mean that the person behind you isn't going to fall down something because something falls out."
A badly damaged section of SH35, which is in need of repair due to flood and subsidence damage. Photo / Tairāwhiti Contractors
Traffic flow was being minimised because of the saturated state of the ground which meant roads, including SH35, were more susceptible to ongoing damage.
Kaiwai was in isolation with her Covid-19 positive family in Tokomaru Bay the night the heavy rains started flooding the East Coast.
Four days earlier roading crews had been put on standby for an imminent weather event.
"When the rain hit, they didn't expect it was going to hit that fast," Kaiwai said. "When it happened, it happened really, really quickly."
A lane of this East Coast road has collapsed after the flooding of the past week. Photo / Tairāwhiti Contractors
Kaiwai and her two young children were among those who had to be rapidly evacuated from Tokomaru Bay as floodwaters created a wave of destruction through the coastal township.
"People were getting evacuated – I was one of them – all hours of the morning," she said.
"And then the bridge washed out. It fast became apparent how bad everything was getting,"
In the early hours of March 23, crews from Tairāwhiti Contractors initially helped with evacuations, as well as working to unblock, and keep open, routes which would allow stranded colleagues to join them on the frontline.
Being stranded behind slips or road washouts wasn't the only factor reducing the size of staff initially on call; so too was Covid-19's rapid spread through parts of the East Coast community.
The surging flood waters which hammered the East Coast last week turned farm paddocks into virtual lakes. Photo / Neil Reid
Due to their critical worker status, some including Kaiwai were granted exemptions from home isolation so they could help with the emergency response.
That small group were kept away from having contact with colleagues and the general public by working solo in the treacherous conditions.
"I wasn't allowed to go to a shop. I wasn't allowed to go to people's houses to use their toilets or go to public toilets because I have Covid," Kaiwai said.
"It was about managing all of that stuff, how do we fill up our vehicles if we have got Covid? We weren't allowed to go to any of the shops to fill up."
A large slip of mud and debris blocks off one lane of SH35 south of Tologa Bay. Photo / Neil Reid
The logistical planning to work with Covid-19 included diesel tankers being stationed at different points which were only to be utilised by those with the virus.
All staff had been working long hours and were being rotated as best as possible.
"You get minimal rest and have to keep going until we can get this flipping road open," Kaiwai said.
Frustrated people and a "fragile" roading network
Frustratingly for the road crew, and increasingly other locals alike, that is still some time off.
Ongoing rain and land movement are continuing to combine for further road damage on SH35. And the bridge at Tokomaru Bay won't have an initial replacement until mid-April.
Kaiwai said while her teams were doing all they could to get key roads reopened, they were increasingly being on the receiving end of verbal sprays from some Coasties.
Road closed signs have become a common sight in areas through the East Coast, Poverty Bay and Hawke's Bay regions after last week's rain. Photo / Neil Reid
"People are just tired . . . some people have been isolating from Covid, and now they are isolated because they have no choice because they are cut off," she said.
"Te Puia to Toko has been closed because the roads are just falling away. Those people who have been stuck in the middle are getting quite impatient now, which is quite understandable.
"[Our] people are having to cop a little bit of fired up native language because people want to get back to Gisborne; they have jobs they want to go to, want to check on their families."
But Kaiwai stressed some sections of the East Coast roading network had to remain closed because "they are just unsafe".
Roading crews work to remove logs and other debris swept down the river and caught up underneath Gisborne's Gladstone Bridge last Thursday. Photo / Neil Reid
"The roads are just so water-logged and saturated that they are just subsiding," she said.
One of the biggest problems was that the rain continued to fall in the area.
And rain is forecast for the East Coast through to at least Saturday, with more then to follow on Monday after just a day's reprieve from the wet.
It was hoped travel could be kept to a minimum as the repair works continue.
A flooded vineyard on SH2 about 30km from Gisborne after the torrential rains of last week. Photo / Neil Reid
Kaiwai implored those who had to travel to drive "slowly, carefully and be kind to the people that are working".
"Just try and be patient and try to understand the fragile network that we are working with at the moment," she said.
"If people can just hang in there just for a little bit extra [it will be great].
"They have already done a service to this network by staying home and not travelling. By doing that, they've done a lot to preserve the network that we currently got . . . which is not that great, but at least we have something."
