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Trapped residents are within hours of travelling on the badly-damaged State Highway 35 after East Coast communities were cut off in this week’s storm.
Waka Kotahi NZTA has organised a convoy operation to get supplies and locals between Tokomaru and Tolaga Bays on the closed State Highway 35 today and tomorrow.
A six-trip schedule has been released for passage in both directions between 10am and 3pm today.
Motorists wanting to travel south from Tokomaru Bay have been told to meet near the Four Square on SH35 to join convoys at either 10am, midday or 2pm.
And those wanting to travel north from Tolaga Bay are meeting on the rugby grounds for convoys at 11am, 1pm and 3pm.
“Please adhere to the designated times – public outside of these hours will not be able to return in either direction,” a statement from Waka Kotahi said.
The convoys will be led and followed by Downer Group vehicles.
Heavy rain has caused slips in the Gisborne region. Photo / Supplied
Yesterday, Gisborne deputy mayor Josh Wharehinga told Newstalk ZB the priority was to get all East Coast communities reconnected again following the destruction.
“The weather has eased back. Only a little bit of sprinkle and light rain. But the catchment is soaked and it’s just water, water everywhere.
“The main job is getting our communities reconnected.”
Communities on the East Coast, including those in Whareponga and Waipiro Bay, were still cut off, Wharehinga said.
“Just under 300 houses are with no power. Right at the start there were 2000 houses; it has come down. The immediate concern is to get people in small pockets of the coast reconnected.”
State Highway 35 was “absolutely smashed”, Wharehinga said.
“The community is resilient. It’s bittersweet, we have been through it before but it is never easy. It is quite hard but we soldier on. We have good Civil Defence teams up and down the coast. People with good hearts doing the hard mahi.”
There had been two big landslides in the middle of the city and one right below someone’s house, he said.
“Surface flooding is similar everywhere across the coast. The wastewater system is full.
“We are asking people to be mindful of their water use.”
Tiniroto Rd closed around Waerenga O Kuri due to surface water. Photo / Liam Clayton, Gisborne Herald
The Government was committed to supporting the region, Wharehinga said.
“Minister Kiri Allan did a fly around East Coast, she was with us and we had our chief scientist taking photos and a person from the forestry compliance monitoring the area.
“The central government is supportive of us every single time. We are really focused on reconnecting the communities and that’s definitely a conversation we will have with the central government but we still need to do a full assessment of what the damage is.”
The Hikuwai River had risen to 13.5 metres - higher than when Cyclone Bola hit.
“We really need to do an assessment. The central government has made the commitment to talk about it with us.”
The devastating storm caused by ex-tropical cyclone Hale triggered large slips, forcing the closure of several major roads, caused severe flooding and triggered damaging sea swells.
Mangatokerau Bridge in Tolaga Bay was covered by a huge pile of storm debris and the neighbouring rural property was covered in silt.
The Mangatokerau Bridge in Tolaga Bay is buried by forest debris. Photo / Miss-Kate Rochelle
Resident Linda Gough told the Herald she was stuck in her house. In less than an hour, she saw her whole paddock get destroyed as rivers of debris came at her house with full force.
“We don’t have anything left, it has taken everything,” she had told the Herald yesterday afternoon.
“At 9.30pm I was outside, the river looked fine, the water was passing through, but within minutes we saw big logs heading towards the bridge.
“We knew we were in trouble. The huge logs collected on the sides and within the hour our whole property was covered by it.
“The water saturated our land; from the bottom of our house’s stairs all the way up to the edge where the bridge is, it’s silt,” Gough said.
“We can’t get to and from our house, we have to go over the hill. All the food for the animals is gone.
Gough said forestry workers had not done enough to prevent yet another massive pile-up of slash and forestry debris.
“We have been here for many years. Last time this happened as well and now it’s just worse.”
She and her husband were older and had health complications, she said.
“We can’t clean all of it by ourselves and so far nobody has come to help or even check on us.”
MetService has predicted a settled weekend with the sun for most of next week as Hale moved away from the country yesterday, however, it is monitoring high activity north of the country which could threaten another downpour later next week.
Authorities in Tairāwhiti had declared a state of emergency after the district was swamped by torrential rain from the ex-tropical Cyclone Hale, which tracked south over the country yesterday bringing fresh flooding and slips to the lower North Island, while continuing to pummel the already drenched east coast.
