All smiles as cabins dropped in at Te Karaka

Home again: Claude Ruru (centre) in front of his new transportable home. Joining him in the picture is Pimia Wehi, Alicia Ruru, Robyn Rauna and Mihi Ruru. Picture by Paul Rickard

Whānau displaced by Cyclone Gabrielle received a welcome boost this week as a number of transportable homes arrived in Te Karaka.

Claude Ruru lives on the outskirts of the town — a section of the region where the Waipaoa River burst its banks and caused widespread devastation.

But on Thursday he was all smiles as a self-contained cabin was successfully delivered from the Bay of Plenty and lowered on to his backyard with a small crane.

Mr Ruru has been staying with family in Gisborne following the cyclone, and has vivid memories of the ordeal he endured during the extreme weather.

As floodwaters rose in the early hours of February 14,  Mr Ruru perched on a ledge of his house and waited for help, which came in the form of a neighbour with a front-end loader.

He climbed into the bucket and was carried to safety.

Following the ordeal, his home was yellow-stickered, meaning it needed significant repairs before he can live in it again.

Mr Ruru said he was “stoked” to be back on his whenua, albeit in a temporary living arrangement.

“My family want me to stay in town, but you can’t beat the old homestead,” he said.

“The support we’ve had from everybody has been fantastic.”

On Cliff Rd in the main township, Paul Rice is staring down the barrel of major repairs to

his whare, which is yet to be lifted for silt removal.

He said he was “excited” to receive a relocatable, because it meant he could look

after his animals while repairs were made to his home.

In the days following the cyclone, Mr Rice and his partner lived out of a van, but were now living out of one room of their house.

The relocatable meant they could stay on site when the house was lifted up in the coming weeks.

“I can’t fault the community since we got flooded. First week, they were coming and checking we were all right,” Mr Rice said.

“You had your good days and you had your (bad) days.”

Five homes were delivered to Te Karaka on Thursday evening, and another 10 are being brought into the region next week. Four of those will be split between Tolaga Bay and Wairoa.

The initiative has been spearheaded by Toitu Tairāwhiti, a collective made up of the four iwi in Tairāwhiti — including Ngāti Porou, Rongowhakaata, Ngāi Tāmanuhiri and Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki.

Toitu Tairāwhiti project manager Willie Te Aho said he had set a “tough” timeframe of six months for getting houses in Te Karaka repaired, because he didn’t want a replay of what happened in Christchurch following the earthquakes, where some people were displaced for more than two years.

“We want people back on their properties rather than 32km away (in Gisborne), and that’s going to help with the anxiety and the stress levels that they have, and the mental pressure they’ve been under.”

Those who have been given a home can stay in it free of charge until August 31.