Temporary village for residents
A temporary village will be set up in Westport to house residents displaced by the weekend’s severe flooding.
Buller mayor Jamie Cleine confirmed relocatable homes would be trucked in from around the South Island, offering a range of accommodation for families, single workers and people with pets.
The homes would be in various locations around the West Coast town, he said.
The Press understands the village will be set up on an empty paddock on Domett St. Relocatable homes will be sourced from Kaiko¯ura, where they were previously used to house road workers repairing earthquake damage caused in 2016.
About 60 residents attended a meeting last night where Cleine and Civil Defence controller Sean Judd gave an update on the response to the flood.
It was confirmed the Defence Force would remain in Westport for the foreseeable future, with the army collecting rubbish, including carpets and furniture sitting on lawns, to minimise health and safety risks.
Nelson police Sergeant Dave Lauer said extra staff had been brought into the town and a 24-hour station was now operating. Lauer also scotched social media rumours that looting had occurred in vacant premises. Residents were also told Fire and Emergency New Zealand would be bringing in additional crews to help pull up carpets in sodden houses.
One resident at the meeting took the opportunity to publicly voice his anger at why the floods had happened.
While not directly affected by the flooding, John Walsh was concerned about the way shingle had been allowed to build up in the Buller River, saying locals had been talking about the dangers of flooding for 20 years but nothing had been done.
It is believed hundreds of displaced residents could spend years in temporary villages as assessments to determine the future of flood-damaged homes continued yesterday. About 30 homes had been ‘‘red stickered’’ as of yesterday morning, leaving residents unable to return to their homes.
Another 300 to 400 homes needed to be inspected, with Cleine expecting numbers to ‘‘grow significantly’’.
On Tuesday, about 140 were assessed, with some yellow-stickered homes deemed red after further assessment. ‘‘Yesterday the hit rate didn’t look particularly good . . . there’s definitely a lot of damage out there.’’
With a baby due in two weeks, flood victims Tyler Croft and Amy AxfordHooker are at the sharp end of the Westport housing crisis.
Their rented house in Derby St, where they had lived for a year before being evacuated on Friday, has been redstickered and all their belongings are a soggy mess. Their home was flooded by about a metre of water.
Axford-Hooker is expecting a baby boy, whom the couple want to call Tommy. She and Croft lived in the house with Croft’s father, Brian, 64. They have Croft’s son Jackson every other weekend. For now, they are bunked in with Croft’s mother in Waimangaroa but with space at a premium they can’t stay there indefinitely.
‘‘It’s going to be extremely hard [to find new accommodation] in Westport,’’ Croft said. ‘‘There was already a housing crisis. I’m absolutely gutted. I try to keep my chin up. It’s better than crying.’’
Associate Housing Minister Poto Williams, who visited the region yesterday, said she had activated the temporary accommodation service for the West Coast and Marlborough to help connect displaced residents with accommodation.
Williams encouraged homeowners to check with their insurance provider to see if their policy would cover rent for temporary accommodation and said if they were not covered, they may be eligible for financial assistance through the Ministry of Social Development.
She also encouraged tenants and landlords in the area to familiarise themselves with tenancy rights and obligations following the floods.
Three welfare centres remained open in Westport, two of which were at motor camps with kitchens and individual units.
A council spokesperson said very few people remained in emergency shelters last night but there would be a ‘‘big need’’ for more temporary accommodation as many were staying with friends or whanau in the short term.