General flooding across the Gisborne / Tairāwhiti region. Photo / George Heard
General flooding across the Gisborne / Tairāwhiti region. Photo / George Heard
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has acknowledged the significant and “hugely traumatic” event in Gisborne and says it is “no question” that big infrastructure changes are needed across the country.
There was also a lot of stress but this had also brought out “the best in New Zealanders” through the response, he said.
Hipkins travelled to Gisborne today with East Coast MP Kiri Allan and Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty to survey the damage and meet those affected in one of the areas hardest hit by Cyclone Gabrielle.
One person has been found dead in Gisborne after the storm.
The politicians travelled to Te Karaka, a small town that was evacuated to higher ground as the Waipāoa River breached in multiple places, destroying properties in its path.
Waipāoa River breached in multiple places due to the impact of Cyclone Gabrielle destroying homes in Te Karaka. Photo / Supplied
The residents were stuck on top of a hill for 27 hours, not knowing whether help was on the way.
There were ongoing power and communication outages in the area, along with a drinking water crisis after the main supply line was damaged.
Hipkins said the inability for people to get in touch with family and friends was a real issue and the Government was working on immediately increasing connectivity, including installing hotspots.
Water was another major issue for the Gisborne area, and there were convoys of trucks delivering emergency supplies.
Hipkins said broadband internet would take “some time”. The focus now was getting satellite internet constellation Starlink online, which would enable some texting and calls.
Esk Valley, State Highway 5. Photo / Hawkes Bay Today
On the bigger infrastructure issues, Hipkins said more needed to be done on resilience. It would be expensive and require some big calls, he said.
“There is no question, we cannot continue the way we have been going. We are going to see more of these weather events.”
On the request to Australia for assistance, Hipkins said New Zealand was accepting international offers of assistance. He would reveal more details at a press conference in Wellington later today.
Hipkins acknowledged it was a “lonely and isolating” time for those cut off by the cyclone’s aftermath.
Restoring infrastructure was a “very big challenge” and he acknowledged that the strain and stress could go on for some time.
It was “almost certainly” time to rethink parts of the road network, he said.
“We have to get real about some of the roads and the fact we are going to have to move some of the roads to where they are more resilient.”
An inquiry into forestry slash and wider land use issues would have to go to Cabinet, but Hipkins said the Government was committed to properly addressing it.
East Coast MP Kiri Allan said the “Coasties” who were in areas they could still not get to were at the “forefront of our minds”.
Kiri Allan flew over Waioeka Gorge and State Highway 35 SH35 north of Gisborne with Waka Kotahi. Photo / Supplied
Asked about funding and addressing water infrastructure issues and how it related to Three Waters, Hipkins said he did not want to get into the politics.
But he said local government in situations such as these could not be expected to carry the costs, and central government would always play a role.
Hipkins said all of the country’s infrastructure would be closely looked at to ensure it was resilient.
His heart went out to families doing it tough.
“I can only imagine how I would feel in those circumstances with my own family. It has been an extraordinary weather event and we will absolutely be focused on doing everything we can to support them.”
The main thing that stood out to him in the response so far was how much New Zealanders were doing to support each other through some of the “biggest challenges some of them will have ever faced in their lives”.
Hipkins will host a media stand-up from the Beehive at about 5.30pm today with the latest on the Cyclone Gabrielle response and recovery.
