Opinion: Long road to recovery begins

Flooding in Edgecumbe.Photo/file

April 6 is a day Edgecumbe people will remember forever.

All residents were evacuated immediately when the Rangitaiki River burst its western bank, flooding the small town.

Residents have gradually been allowed to return to their homes and have been confronted by a huge mess to clean up.

It's going to be a massive undertaking. My Whakatane-based father, a builder, says he will be working on flooded houses for the next two years.

But before he and other tradies can get into the town, the houses need to be stripped completely of contaminated possessions, which will be sent straight to the skip.

A relative of mine was devastated to discover her children's Plunket books had been submerged by flood waters and would have to be thrown out.

This heartbreak will be resonating all over town as people make the hard decisions to throw away sentimental items like damaged photographs and kids' drawings, let alone the big stuff like furniture and important documents.

For people from the Eastern Bay, these major flooding events are all too familiar.

In 2004, the Whakatane suburb of Awatapu flooded and caused widespread damage. The CBD was also affected closer to the river mouth. Edgecumbe was also flooded, this time on the eastern side of the Rangitaiki River.

In 2005, Matata was hit by flooding and debris flow, damaging homes and property.

These events took many months to recover from.

I volunteered with my youth group to help clean up after the 2004 floods and I will never forget the musky, muddy smell that permeated those homes.

It warmed my heart last week to hear that almost 1200 people had registered with the Ngati Awa Volunteer Army to help these flood-stricken Edgecumbe residents get back into their homes.

They're going to need every bit of help they can get.