Bay resident living in fear

Toni Butler believes a retaining wall running alongside her driveway is unsafe after storms in April. Photo / John Borren

A western Bay resident is living in fear that a retaining wall damaged in April's floods could collapse and threaten her home.

The revelation comes as new figures show the disaster caused almost $12million worth of damage in the region.

The Insurance Council New Zealand this week released figures stating the damage to the Bay of Plenty during the April storm totalled $11.5million, $7.3million of which was damage to residential properties.

Taya Campbell is one resident still waiting for damage on her property to be fixed. She said she was frustrated the retaining wall, which is on the boundary of her Bellevue home, was not yet fixed and feared it would get worse with heavy rain.

Ms Campbell, who rents the property, said heavy rain washed away earth from the retaining wall and from underneath a driveway on a neighbouring property.

She and her neighbour, Toni Butler, were concerned about a gap between the concrete slab driveway and retaining wall. They feared the wall and driveway could fall into Ms Campbell's home if more heavy rain washed away the remaining earth.

Ms Campbell's landlord said he had been in contact with the Earthquake Commission (EQC) which provides natural disaster insurance to residential property owners.

Her landlord, who did not want to be identified, said assessors had visited the property and told him the wall was not an immediate threat.

However, Ms Campbell and Mrs Butler were concerned the wall was not stable and needed to be fixed.

"It's just taking far too long," Ms Campbell said.

"I don't understand what the hold-up is."

Mrs Butler said she warned visitors to her property not to drive too close to the edge of the driveway for fear of cars getting stuck or falling on to Ms Campbell's property.

"We just can't do anything until EQC pays us," she said.

"We just want it to get fixed. It's not safe."

Mrs Butler said she had received reports from engineers and assessors who estimated the damage would cost $33,000 to fix.

"It's not a small job and it will take a while for it to actually be fixed so they just need to speed up the process."

The EQC did not comment yesterday.

How the council responds to heavy rain warnings

*The council checks and clears debris from stormwater grates and outlets before the rain arrives.
*The checks are repeated after the rain.
*Every call from the public is logged and actions are sent to contractors. A team of council staff is on standby.
*Residents can request sandbags.
*Residents should not sweep leaves on to the road