Rural hamlet still struggling to recover
If you weren’t looking closely enough, you’d miss it.
But on a sunny late January day, you can just see the glint of sunshine off an aluminium chimney slightly poking through mounds of dried silt and rapidly spreading weeds on the side of Puketitiri Rd, Rissington.
The road is the main route through Rissington, a bush-clad Hawke’s Bay hamlet which suffered some of the worst flooding damage created by the near-biblical rainfall unleashed by Cyclone Gabrielle a year ago.
Look more closely at the chimney and you’ll see part of what was once a family home’s roof — including a Sky TV dish — protruding from the property, which is otherwise still buried in a mountain of silt.
The force of the wall of water that roiled down the swollen Mangaone River — carrying with it logs, mud and other debris — was such that the 94-year-old bridge in Rissington’s valley was destroyed.
Properties in the water’s path were badly damaged — some beyond repair — after being engulfed in mud and silt.
One of the few homes in the valley that avoided serious damage is owned by Gretchen Absolom, who has proudly called Rissington home for 55 years.
The fact her home is on an elevated part of her property saved it. Absolom took shelter in it as the flooding caused havoc just metres below.
Her land still bears the scars of that night and the next morning, but she said it was nothing compared with what others were trying to recover from.
“My grandson’s been back to stay a few times . . . and he’s in shock every time he comes,” Absolom said.
“[Some locals] brought some English relatives just to visit and they were just speechless.
It was just terrible. They said they’ve never seen anything like it.
“People get [lost] for words. They can’t find the words to express how they feel.”
For Absolom, one word sums up her feelings towards the state of her cherished rural hamlet.
“Depressing. You can see it is just a total disaster.”
Soldiers Settlement Rd, from which her property runs, is now more than a metre higher than it used to be, the level having risen due to the silt and logs that now lie under metal laid during the ongoing clean-up operation.
When the wood rots the road will have to be dug up and relaid.
A single-lane Bailey bridge currently connects both sides of the valley.
The bridge wiped out by Cyclone Gabrielle had replaced previous bridges destroyed by storms in 1897 and 1924. Work on a new permanent bridge is not expected until late next year. The completion of a permanent bridge will be a huge milestone for residents.
All around Rissington are topographical reminders of the cyclone.
The hills around it feature scarring from severe landslides.
The course of the Mangaone River has moved; now 23 metres closer to one couple’s home than it was before February 13, 2023.
“At the top [of the drive into Rissington] you’re coming along and it looks normal and you come down and, oh, my heck . . . ,” Absolom said.
Like her, some residents have vowed to stay in the area. On Puketitiri Rd, some landowners are based in campervans while working on their properties. A foundation pad has been laid on one property.
Others have made the sad decision to leave Rissington and move to Napier — or left Hawke’s Bay altogether.
Eleven people tragically lost their lives in Cyclone Gabrielle, most of them in Hawke’s Bay.
“The blessing is that no one in the district was washed away.
“It’s a miracle that only 11 died,” Absolom said.