Welfare convoys continue to push into remote Tararua communities

Contacting people who haven’t been heard from since Cyclone Gabrielle hit remains the priority in Tararua.

The region is still recovering after the devastating cyclone hit last week. While Tararua has not been affected as badly as regions further north, many roads have been destroyed and rural communities are still cut off.

Tararua District Council has been sending convoys to areas cut off by road closures to check on people’s welfare and on what damage has been caused.

Mayor Tracey Collis said they were still in the response stage and figuring out where people who needed assistance were.

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“Convoys are out every day. Those are planned convoys. They are most definitely with risk.

“Some of those roads they travel on, councillors reported back and you haven’t got a lot of room either side where pieces of road have been lost.

“We’re punching out to those communities checking on those isolated people.”

The number of roads closed increased from 35 to 36 overnight. Twenty are open to emergency vehicles, but the rest cannot be used. People can report slips to the council or report it using the Antenno app.

“This is a shearing gang going to work [on Monday] morning and hello a new slip’s come down and covered the entire road. The land is still wet, the land is still moving.”

There are three roads open under caution, six that are single-lane, two only accessible to 4WDs and residents and three roads that are closed to heavy vehicles.

Collis said the roading team’s priority was making sure roads were open for emergency access, including ambulances if required.

Convoys visited Ti Tree Point and surrounding areas on Sunday for rural welfare needs assessments and supply drops.

There were still people the council hadn’t been able to contact and Collis said getting hold of them was their “highest priority”.

A helicopter team checked on six properties where there had been no road access and contact had not been made with the residents, and also delivered supplies to a property on Sugarloaf Rd.

Convoys went to the Horoeka, Waione, Akaroa and Waihoki Valley and Mara areas on Monday, with information relayed to the emergency operations centre.

How long it would take to fix the region’s roads would be discussed later as Collis said they were still in response mode.

One road that had been destroyed was Coast Rd through the Marainanga Gorge to Ākitio, which Collis said couldn’t be fixed.

Having viewed Tararua and Central Hawke’s Bay via helicopter, Collis said the damage to the entire east coast was devastating and the cleanup would be huge.

“In 2004 [flooding] the Tararua district’s cost was $27 million and this is far, far worse.”

Tararua has been in a state of emergency since last Tuesday and Collis said the minister for emergency manager, Kieran McAnulty, would receive advice on whether that would continue.

The police have increased their presence in the region, checking on people and focusing on people’s safety. Collis said there had been no reports of lawlessness as there had been in Hawke’s Bay.

She asked people in Dannevirke to conserve water as the council was still testing the Tāmaki River, and turbidity was slowly returning to treatable levels.

The Dannevirke wastewater treatment plant had returned to normal function.

The Pongaroa water treatment plant iwa shut due to source water quality and the build up of mud and debris.

Staff were flushing the system and replacing filters, and it should have been treating water again on Monday afternoon. A boil water notice remains in place.

The Ākitio water treatment plant is running and the water levels in the reservoirs are rebuilding. Chlorine levels were being topped up on Tuesday. A precautionary boil water notice remains in place.

Power companies were working to restore power to a small number of properties.

The status of roads is being updated on the council’s website: tararuadc.govt.nz/services/roading/current-road-status.

Anyone in need of welfare support can call 06 374 4080 or 06 376 0110.

People can donate to the mayoral relief fund for flood relief at customer service centres, libraries or a direct deposit: Tararua District Council 03-0614-0088406-01, referencing “flood relief”.

The Tararua council has been supported by staff from Palmerston North, Manawatū, Horowhenua and Horizons councils.

Horizons Regional Council is assisting Napier City Council’s civil defence controllers and is ready to respond to any requests from the National Emergency Management Agency.

Staff at Te Whatu Ora MidCentral were being invited to volunteer to be deployed if they could be spared for two weeks.

District director Jeff Brown said the cyclone’s impacts were “heart-breaking”.

Primary health workers and pharmacists in Palmerston North were already helping displaced residents, hospital staff were supporting remote care, and managers were involved in organising disaster and emergency responses, he said.

Horizons staff have been assessing waterway assets such as stopbanks as water levels have dropped.

Most of the network held up well, but the Pohangina River has multiple sites needing repair, as well as sections of the Rangitīkei and Ōroua rivers.

The council is also working to get resources into Tararua to help with repairs on river management infrastructure.