Wairoa’s mayor has called on the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council to better support flood-stricken residents following flooding last week that will cost more than $40 million for the town to clean up.
Mayor Craig Little told Breakfast the situation on the ground in Wairoa was “soul destroying”.
“People just don’t know how they’re going to get ahead of this one. They’re uninsured, it’s no fault of theirs and they’ve flooded where we’ve never flooded. It’s just horrible.”
He said he had counselled grown men and women who were crying in the street.
“And yet, it’s the Wairoa District Council doing this and where’s the regional council? They should get up and do a public apology, have a public meeting and give the people hope.”
Little said regional council workers came to the region on Friday and Saturday, which he described as “too little too late”.
“It’s just, honestly ,I think people have the stress of going broke, they’ve got no hope.”
“I just keep asking why a little wee council like ours has to have all the stress.”
Minister for Emergency Management and Recovery Mark Mitchell last week announced the Government would contribute $300,000 to the Mayoral Relief Funds to help communities in Hastings, Wairoa and Tairāwhiti.
Little said he was “optimistic” the coalition Government would provide more relief following Mitchell’s visit.
“We’ve got people who have stripped their homes out, especially the uninsured, how are they going to put their carpets in?” he said.
“It’s just not good enough. People shouldn’t have to be living their life like this, we’ll end up with an abandoned town with people running away.”
Amongst the clean-up efforts, residents are asking how this could happen again.
Yesterday, residents told 1News the river mouth should have been opened earlier.
“In my opinion, it’s mismanagement and they’re not listening to tangata whenua and people who know and have the knowledge of this river,” resident Wendy Howe said.
The regional council’s acting chief executive Iain Maxwell said it had been “closely monitoring the situation and initial forecasts” in the days leading up to the flooding.
“Our modelling showed river levels weren’t going to rise high enough to allow a successful river opening. On Monday, a revised forecast predicted more rainfall and we alerted our local contractor,” he said.
“On Tuesday, the contractor worked all day to prepare the river mouth for an opening. Overnight on Tuesday, the considerable and un-forecast rainfall flooded the lower reaches of the river, including the contractor’s equipment in a higher area he had always parked it,” Maxwell said.
Little said he had sent a text to the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council on Monday asking about plans for the river mouth due to residents concerns and was told “you don’t know what you’re talking about” and it would be fine.
“They didn’t have it under control. And we knew that, but we [Wairoa District Council] aren’t the authority to do that.”
Govt confirms funding may be available for Wairoa
Speaking to Breakfast, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the Government was open to more funding for Wairoa, “we’ve just got to make sure”.
“We’re obviously still working through with Wairoa, there’s been some serious money that’s been given to deal with flood bank protection in particular. But you’re right, there’s money that will be needed for clean-up.”
He said the Government was working through assessing exactly what was needed for the region.
“We’ve got money set aside to deal with events like this. We’re very happy to support in any way we can. Obviously we’ve got to agree with what is the plan to make sure we get the long-term actions in place in Wairoa as well.”
“We’re also open to doing a review into what actually caused this as well.”
‘Utter devastation’
Taskforce Kiwi founder and national director Richard Adams told Breakfast he arrived on Friday and described the situation for some areas as “worse than Cyclone Gabrielle”.
“The biggest difference is down to scale for a certain part of the community. It is devastating but at the same time its probably not quite as large as Gabrielle.”
He said it was “utter devastation” for hundreds of homes that had been washed through.
The taskforce was helping the community through “simple but necessary” tasks such as clearing debris and delivering firewood so that homes could begin to dry out.
“Tons and tons and tons of belongings and goods. Everything from clothing to carpets, helping to clear them out of houses and clear them from the streets.”
Adams said his team of 10 volunteers from around the country would remain on the ground helping where required.