Cyclone Gabrielle 100 days on: Tararua recovery may take 10 years

Don Cameron is the local recovery manager for the recovery team at the Tararua District Council. Photo / Leanne Warr

Roading and other Tararua infrastructure damaged by Cyclone Gabrielle may take up to 10 years to recover.

It’s been 100 days since the cyclone hit the Tararua District, causing massive damage in coastal areas, cutting off those communities with slips and flooding.

Tararua District Council local recovery manager Don Cameron said there were different phases to the recovery, with the immediate response phase “over hopefully by the end of the year.”

For some it could be between two and four years, but for many farmers, it may take them even longer to recover, he said.

That also depended on whether there was further damage from any other weather event.

“The overriding thing on people’s minds is it’s not the last event this year. We’ve still got to get through winter, and it’s already really wet. It’s not going to take a lot of rain to shift some of those slips again.”

The recovery team held conversations with some of the impacted communities to get an idea of their concerns and how they were affected.

Mayor Tracey Collis said there were a lot of people battling away and doing the clean-up themselves. Photo / Leanne Warr

Cameron said the main topics were around roading, being cut off, and people having a sense of isolation.

He said that was balanced with the team saying they were working as fast as they could.

“The guys are working flat out to ensure those roads are at least open for people to move in and out, [and] kids could go to school.”

Tararua District Council mayor Tracey Collis said there was an opportunity for residents to ask questions.

She said there were still a lot of people battling away cleaning up themselves, and the idea behind the conversations was to see who needed help, and to be able to co-ordinate that help.

“There’s still that real attitude in Tararua [District] that other people are worse off. That’s still coming through quite strongly.”

Each area was unique and was impacted in different ways, which meant different conversations.

Sandra James: the conversations showed each area had different challenges and needs. Photo / Leanne Warr

Strategic adviser Sandra James said each area had different challenges and needs.

“It really brought home how important it was for us to go to visit them all and answer their questions.”

An impact survey had also been sent out and it was hoped it would give the recovery team enough information to be able to understand each community’s needs.

Cameron said they were looking for those that really needed the help, even if someone was answering on their behalf.

He said it looked as if there were some in the community who probably wouldn’t answer, which might be a personal thing.

The impact was also on families, but also on business, and it was hoped some data would come back from the surveys so the team could understand exactly how it was impacting people.

Work is under way to provide temporary access until a permanent solution can be found. Photo / Mark Wheeler

There were also concerns over wellbeing.

“We do know that about this time is where people are going to start finding it hard,” Cameron said.

“They’ve worked their butts off to get things up and running. They’re going to get tired, both mentally and physically.”

He said the team was also making sure there would be services available to help those people.

The Tararua Alliance was dealing with more than 2300 faults, and one of the major faults from the cyclone was from Coast Road through the Marainanga Gorge.

The damage to Coast Road is a complex problem. Photo / Mark Wheeler

Work was under way on a temporary fix to at least allow access through the gorge.

James said it looked like they were on track with what they had planned for now, but the next phase was going to require a lot of thinking and a lot of decisions to be made.

Another site was Otanga Road, and Collis said there was investigative work and funding being looked at but it was a very complex site.

The team was also very busy planning some rural events such as comedy nights, James said, with a focus on wellbeing and bringing people together.

“There’s a lot going on behind the scenes. It’s just not visible.”