Tornado-hit town faces rip-off costs

Some tradespeople have been raising their estimates for repairs in tornado-hit Greymouth, according to reports received by the Insurance Council.

It said yesterday that unconfirmed reports received from residents and insurance representatives included allegations of "price gouging" and claims from unqualified tradespeople that they were qualified.

The allegations came as Greymouth Mayor Tony Kokshoorn spoke out about offers of help from carpenters outside the region, saying that enough local carpenters had already pledged their help.

The tornado last Thursday morning seriously damaged 40 homes and 30 businesses.

Insurance Council chief executive Chris Ryan said reports had been received of some builders doubling their rates, knowing there was a labour shortage in the region.

"Additionally, we have also had reports of tradespeople who are not qualified indicating they can do work to the acceptable standards for the local authority."

Mr Ryan said repairs needed to be done to adequate building code safety standards and carried out by properly skilled tradespeople where required.

"If insurers don't maintain building standards during this stressful time the Greymouth community will be paying for shoddy repairs for many years to come," he said.
The insurance industry estimates it will put up to $10 million back into the community and has placed additional staff in the town to help cope with the aftermath of the tornado.

Mr Ryan said locals had shown resilience during the clean up and he urged the community to be patient while repairs were carried out to the required level.

Mr Kokshoorn said discussions were taking place regarding temporary housing for those left homeless, but a lack of spare housing in the area wasn't helping.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Helen Clark said the Government was "walking alongside" the Grey District Council as it assessed what needed to be done in the aftermath of the tornado.

The $50,000 the Government had given was to start the mayoral relief fund but as it had done with the lower North Island and Bay of Plenty floods of last year, a "purpose-built" response would follow once assessments had been done.

Government agencies had been helping people with immediate difficulties, such as with housing.

"I think the key issue is the people who have lost their homes," Helen Clark said.

While this was a small event compared to the scale of the lower North Island and eastern Bay of Plenty floods, people who had lost their homes were as badly affected as anyone caught up in those events.

- NZPA