‘Step forward’ for residents
Category change for flood-damaged homes welcomed
A“viable concept plan” that includes the raising of State Highway 2, will allow some Whirinaki residents to start the process of returning to their flooddamaged homes.
Nine months to the day that Cyclone Gabrielle hit, homeowners on Pohutukawa Drive were advised they had been moved from Category 2A to 2C.
The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC) says its aim is now to revise the category to 1 “in the next six to 12 months” as plans to build a stopbank and lift the level of the highway gather pace.
Just how high the stopbank and highway will be is yet to be officially confirmed, along with how long the work might take and what it will cost.
A resident, who attended a meeting with HBRC and Hastings District Council on Wednesday night, says a timeline of four years was mentioned.
“The raising of part of SH2 is part of the concept,” a HBRC spokesman told Hawke’s Bay Today.
“Waka Kotahi has been really helpful and we will continue to work with Waka Kotahi and KiwiRail through the detailed design process,” the spokesman said.
Once the detailed design is confirmed, along with costings and agreed funding from the Government, the HBRC says the land category can change from 2C to 1.
For residents, the news is progress, but far from the end of their journey.
“We’ll still be living in our caravan well into next year,” Pohutukawa Drive resident Lynn Noanoa said.
The Noanoas are insured “like for like”, which means their home has to be stripped to its bare bones, silt removed from every nook and cranny and cladding and windows replaced.
“We’re pleased to have moved a step forward, because people were pretty down,” said Noanoa.
Everything going to plan, Noanoa hopes the rebuild of her home — which from the outside looks completely unblemished — will begin in mid-January.
Noanoa says the property, where she and husband Art live in a caravan on the driveway and use a portaloo across the street, has become something of a tourist attraction in the months since the cyclone due to the skeletons and signage they’ve put out front.
Neighbour Jayde Demanser was the Pohutukawa Drive representative on the Whirinaki Resilience Project and was “literally yelling and screaming” with excitement when news of the category change came through via HBRC email.
“It’s a massive relief. You go from feeling like there’s this anchor that’s weighing you down, to feeling like you’re walking on air,” Demanser said.
It’s understood the HBRC now has to finalise road and rail plans with the Transport Rebuild East Coast Alliance, which includes Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency and KiwiRail, work with environmental engineering consultants on strategies to manage waterways and then present its business case to the Government.