Asha John lines sandbags against her Fergusson Drive home in Gisborne yesterday as the Taruheru River floods the backyard. Some basements and garages were flooded but there were no reports of major house flooding,
Photo / Paul Rickard
Asha John lines sandbags against her Fergusson Drive home in Gisborne yesterday as the Taruheru River floods the backyard. Some basements and garages were flooded but there were no reports of major house flooding,
Photo / Paul Rickard
The extreme southerly storm that battered the region on Tuesday night and yesterday was expected to fade slowly away from today.
But it was leaving in its wake widespread power outages, some self-evacuations around Gisborne and up the East Coast, a huge number of fallen trees trees and city sewer flooding.
Further south, a state of emergency was declared yesterday morning in Wairoa as the Wairoa River rose, resulting in more than 100 people evacuating to the township’s Memorial Hall.
The intense weather system has not quite finished with the region. Occasional rain was forecast for today and into Friday ahead of a fine day on Saturday.
MetService cancelled the heavy rain warning for Gisborne yesterday afternoon.
Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz said it was decided not to declare a state of emergency for Tairāwhiti but they were “thinking of our neighbours in Wairoa”.
Evacuation centres operated at Te Poho-o-Rāwiri Marae and the House of Breakthrough after some people by Waipaoa River self-evacuated. The river peaked at 8m yesterday.
A fallen tree from the Adventure Playground blocks Awapuni Rd/SH35 in Gisborne yesterday morning. Photo / Paul Rickard
Evacuations occurred in Ūawa and some residents in Gisborne’s Thompson St and Fergusson Drive left their homes.
Tiniroto Rd at Hangaroa Bluffs closed at 7pm on Tuesday and remained closed all day yesterday while safety issues at the site were assessed.
All council facilities were closed yesterday, including the public library, parks, reserves and Taruheru Cemetery.
The state highway network was disrupted yesterday but SH35 reopened between Gisborne and Tolaga Bay after floodwaters subsided.
Road crews left warning signs in place as a precaution in the highest risk areas.
SH2 north between Matawai and Ormond also reopened after floodwaters subsided.
Gladstone Rd Bridge was closed for several hours yesterday while NZ Transport Agency contractors removed wood and debris from underneath it.
Traffic was able to use the Peel St and William Pettie bridges on Rutene Rd, but there were some traffic delays.
Firstlight Network reported mid-afternoon yesterday it had restored power to 1115 customers and its crews continued to respond to widespread outages across the region from south of Wairoa to Te Araroa.
At that point, another 1000 customers were still affected.
Operations manager George Drysdale said power had been restored in Wairoa after flooding had resided from a local substation.
Outages still affect Frasertown and Raupunga in the Wairoa region yesterday afternoon.
Flooding on Thompson St, alongside the Taruheru River, in central Gisborne. Photo / Paul Rickard
“Our team is working to restore power as quickly as possible, however with wind and rain that has hammered the area over the past 24 hours, access is restricted due to road closures, swollen rivers and major slips.
“We understand it’s frustrating to be without power and we appreciate everyone’s patience,” Drysdale said.
“We ask that people keep our faults number handy: 0800 206 207 and look at our Firstlight Network Facebook page for updates.”
Gisborne firefighters responded to 11 calls on Tuesday night during the height of the storm.
“We were called to trees down, several house roof-lifting jobs, and three calls for trampolines getting mobile in strong winds,” a senior firefighter said.
The calls were scattered throughout the city.
Fire crews were called to another couple of roof-lifting jobs in the city yesterday.
They also provided support to the Wairoa volunteer brigade, along with firefighters from Hawke’s Bay.
Gisborne-Wairoa Federated Farmers president Charlie Reynolds said the storm was a “mixed bag” for farmers.
“It certainly hit us more in the west of Poverty Bay and Wairoa, so more inland.
“The rain variances have been quite huge. Some farmers reported 70mm, up to 130mm at Muriwai and I had more than 200mm at Ormond.
“The damage is mostly from slips again to the hill country, and the guys on the Poverty Bay Flats have seen some brand new fences go, yet again.”
Woody debris being cleared from alongside Gladstone Rd Bridge at midday yesterday, as work began. Photo / Paul Rickard
Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro extended her sympathy and support to Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay yesterday.
“Having visited Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti just last week, and seeing communities like Te Karaka, Tolaga Bay and Wairoa working so hard to rebuild and strengthen resilience after Cyclone Gabrielle, our thoughts and prayers are with the people we met there.”
Gisborne Hospital and its Emergency Department remained open yesterday despite the weather conditions.
The public are reminded to use ED for emergencies only.
