Hastings post-cyclone recovery bill set to top $2 billion

The Cyclone Gabrielle recovery bill in Heretaunga/Hastings is estimated to top $2 billion, once farms and orchards in the wider region are taken into account.

The first draft of Hastings District Council’s cyclone recovery plan paints a picture of the staggering scale of the recovery.

Heretaunga/Hastings district was one of the hardest-hit by Cyclone Gabrielle, with floodwaters ravaging homes, roads, orchards and farms.

Each of the region’s councils submitted a “locality plan” to the Hawke’s Bay Regional Recovery Agency, to inform its regional recovery plan which is due next month.

The Heretaunga plan showed the infrastructure rebuild had the most eyewatering pricetag at $1.15b – including $800 million for fixing roads, and $266m for silt removal.

The primary sector also needed significant help – $811m, including $700m of support for horticulturists and $100m to cover farmers’ uninsurable losses.

Other costs were associated with community and whānau well-being, revitalising the local economy, environmental resilience, and transitioning from temporary response to long-term recovery.

The document said the plan had to be put together quickly without the usual standard of care and auditing – so council staff had to make some assumptions, and costs were likely to change over time.

The next version of the plan is due in August, which would give council and mana whenua more time to engage with communities.

Recovering in Heretaunga/Hastings: cost breakdown

• Infrastructure $1.15b – includes $800m for roads, $266m for silt collection and $11m for collecting and disposing of flood-ruined household waste – as well as building a new landfill and repairing the existing one, restoring and repairing water supplies, and restoring parks and reserves.
• Primary sector $811m – includes $700m for a horticulture financial assistance package (across the Hawke’s Bay region) and $100m to cover farmers’ uninsurable losses like fencing and water supplies, as well as erosion planting support and mental health assistance.
• Wellbeing $85.3m – includes some regional initiatives, providing quality housing, upgrading rural community hubs, connecting communities through events, arts and sport, and creating community recovery plans.
• Economic growth $4.1m – includes $3 million to bring major events back to the region, as well as a project to create a business case for increasing Whirinaki’s flood infrastructure – works which will boost local employment – a rural cycleway feasibility study, and development of a Māori tourism offering.
• Environmental resilience $1.25m – including a project looking at options for disposing of organic waste like woody debris and converting it to energy, and creating a “comprehensive” climate change adaptation and resilience strategy.
• Recovery transition $1.2m – including supplies for the few remaining isolated communities and planning for future events.

The wider Hawke’s Bay region

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s plan indicated its recovery will cost $793m – but other funding sources like insurance and the National Emergency Management Agency would cover $91m of that. The lion’s share – $503m – was to repair and upgrade flood protection schemes including stopbanks, as well as build a new flood protection scheme for Wairoa which currently goes without.

Removing around three million cubic metres of silt, wood and other waste was estimated at $120m, and the Civil Defence response would likely amount to $10.5m.

Many of Ahuriri/Napier’s costs were to be confirmed – but its big ticket items included $27.5m for stormwater improvements in Awatoto, $10.9m to clear silt from the same area, and $6m for wastewater treatment plant upgrades “to provide for the return to operation within days rather than weeks to months” after a flood event.

Central Hawke’s Bay District Council has given broad cost bands only, to “recognise the early scoping phase that the locality planning is at”.

Wairoa District Council is yet to release its plan.

Most of the region’s homeowners face hefty rates hikes from July as councils grappled with the fallout of the cyclone.