Long-time Wairoa resident Sylvia Bell is still unable to live in her house which was badly damaged in February's Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Neil Reid
Long-time Wairoa resident Sylvia Bell is still unable to live in her house which was badly damaged in February's Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Neil Reid
As builders and family continue to repair Sylvia Bell’s flood-hammered home, the widow has just one wish; to be back in the house she has lived in for the past 50 years by Christmas.
Her house was among many badly damaged when flood waters and a wall of mud surged through the Wairoa suburb of North Clyde when Cyclone Gabrielle hit in mid-February.
While the flooding caused a combined multimillion dollars of damage to homes and businesses in the area, miraculously no lives were lost in the northern Hawke’s Bay town.
But seven months on, Bell – and other locals – remain unable to live in their yellow-stickered properties due to extensive damage caused by one of the worst storms to hit New Zealand since records have been kept.
Home for her during the recent cold winter was a temporary cabin erected on her property. Some members of the work crew fixing her house – including younger relatives – had to make do at times by sleeping in a tent behind it.
“I hope I won’t be in the cabin for too long,” Bell said.
“They’ve got me down for three months [from last week to move back in]. I am hoping I can get in before then.”
A cabin erected on Syliva Bell's property in North Clyde, Wairoa, after her house was badly damaged in Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Neil Reid
Bell lives in Mackley St; a street that now resembles multi-building yards along the T-shaped cul-de-sac.
Home after home feature yellow stickers on windows or front doors, signifying they are not able to be lived in.
Bell is one of several residents still living on their property after being provided with the temporary use of a removable cabin by health, housing and social service provider Enabled Wairoa.
Mackley St still bears other tell-tale scars of Cyclone Gabrielle.
Across from Bell’s house, a large pile of ruined household items and ripped-out flood-wrecked flooring and plasterboard continues to grow. Remnants of the mud which soaked the area also remain.
Inside her house, the work of tradies and family members in the months since Cyclone Gabrielle’s fury hit can be seen.
A pile of destroyed household items and torn-out damaged interiors on the side of Mackley St, Wairoa, seven months on from Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Neil Reid
The house’s interior had to be stripped out after the flooding.
Now the tireless work sees floors patched up and new plasterboard nailed over many of the walls.
Despite the damage to her beloved home, the pensioner said she had never wanted to walk away from the house.
“I have been here for three-quarters of my life,” she said.
“I am looking at 50 years [in this house] . . . maybe not 50 years, but close. I have plenty of good memories here.”
The cabin she is currently staying in was sourced after the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment partnered with the Wairoa District Council and Enabled Wairoa in the aftermath of the cyclone.
Long-time Wairoa resident Sylvia Bell leaning up against a shelter erected on the side of the cabin she is currently living in. Photo / Neil Reid
By June, it had provided at least 12 of the units and 15 motorhomes to flood-impacted homeowners.
“I would love to say thanks to Enabled,” Bell said.
A heater in the cabin had kept her as warm as possible during the recent “pretty cold” months of winter.
It was more of a respite from winter which those sleeping in the tent had, with Bell saying it would have been “bitterly cold”.
“I wouldn’t want to go in there myself,” Bell said. “Just looking at it was cold for me.”
She said Wairoa was a close-knit community and people had been caring towards those who had suffered damage in the cyclone.
The extent of some of the flooding in Wairoa during Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Wairoa District Council
She, and other locals impacted, had a lot to thank fellow residents who had helped them during the tough times.
Seven months on, Bell said she also continued to be “grateful” not to have been in Wairoa when the flood waters arrived, having earlier travelling to Hastings to be with her daughter.
Bell is one of about 130 homeowners not currently able to live in their homes in Wairoa due to the damage inflicted.
Wairoa mayor Craig Little said it was hoped most would be able to move back into their renovated houses by Christmas.
The Wairoa District Council had been proactive in supporting households that were uninsured due to their budget constraints.
That included funds being given to them to aid rebuilds via its mayoral relief fund.
“We’ve raised $2 million in our local fund and we’ve been distributing that per household,” Little said.
“We’ve had a lot of good news [with donations and help], but people are still out of their homes. That’s not what we probably really wanted.”
Little said the provision of removable units and motorhomes had been a blessing for those forced out of their homes.
Sylvia Bell inside her Wairoa home that is undergoing vast repairs after February's Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Neil Reid
But he stressed they had to be a temporary measure and the priority was ensuring homes were fixed as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Little has called on the section of SH2 covering his region – and even beyond into other areas of Hawke’s Bay - to be designated a Road of National Significance by the next government.
Such a move would increase funding and speed up the rate of repairs, Little believed.
Cyclone Gabrielle damage will require an estimated $200 million repair job to the roading network in the Wairoa District; with much of that to fix slips, washouts and also damage to bridges on SH2.
Ongoing repairs have led traffic on SH2 to be reduced to one lane between Napier and Wairoa, with the flow of motorists controlled by traffic lights.
Wairoa mayor Craig Little wants a section of SH2 in northern Hawke's Bay to be made a Road of National Significance. Photo / Neil Reid
It means the previous 90-minute journey can take up to two and a half hours.
Little said it was leading to a loss in business productivity.
He said protecting the integrity of SH2 needed to be a priority given how important the road was for a variety of industries including forestry, agriculture, product deliveries and the Rocket Lab base at Mahia.
“The key would be . . . whoever gets into government makes that a road of significance . . . then we can get some real dollars to get that road up and running,” Little said.
“I know this cyclone has been out of the box.
“But, that road you just travelled on, that’s probably going to hold our community back.
“Sometimes it can take two and a half hours [to get to Napier]. It will be costing a lot in lost production.”
Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He extensively covered Cyclone Gabrielle at the time of the tragedy. Neil joined the Herald in 2014 and has 30 years of newsroom experience.
