Clean-up well underway after Vaianu’s damaging path through Gisborne-Tairāwhiti

A fallen tree next to Mangapapa Church near the corner of Ormond Rd and Atkinson St. Photo / Chris Taewa

The roar of 100km/h-plus winds on Sunday was replaced by the whine of chainsaws on Monday as the region went into clean-up mode following the impact of ex-tropical Cyclone Vaianu.

Tairāwhiti got off reasonably lightly compared with other areas, with a relieved Civil Defence Emergency Management group manager Ben Green saying: “It could have been a lot worse.

“Certainly, we had some damage affecting our roads.

Fallen trees across roads, like this one on State Highway 35, and on to power lines caused by severe winds on Sunday were casualties in the passage of ex-Cyclone Vaianu through Tairāwhiti. Photo / NZTA

“Our preparation helped and things were ready to go on Saturday,” Green said. “The whole system in every community was certainly plugged in to meet any scenario.

“Fortunately, in this case, we avoided any catastrophic damage.”

Strong winds and tree damage were a major factor as Vaianu went through Tairāwhiti.

Many streets were lined with tree debris. Birrell St was a mess of fallen trees and, predominantly, branches; large trees fell at Nelson Park and Adventure Playground; another went down at the Mangapapa Church on the corner of Ormond Rd and Atkinson St; a tree went through a concrete fence of an unoccupied house in Gladstone Rd next to the Harry Barker Reserve entrance.

Birrell St was hit hard by the storm, with multiple trees and branches falling. Photo / Chris Taewa

A dramatic video was posted on Facebook of iron fencing flying across Roebuck Rd near the Gisborne Thistle clubroom seconds after two cars travelling in opposite directions went past.

The heaviest recorded gusts were 136.7km/h at Pouawa at 1.50pm Sunday, 125km/h near Tikitiki about the same time and 104.8km/h at Gisborne Airport.

City firefighters attended to 13 call-outs for storm-related issues on Sunday, like this fallen tree outside EIT Tairāwhiti in Palmerston Rd. Photo / Murray Robertson

Tree clearance on the highways remained a focus for road crews initially on Monday, with 15 large trees down on SH35 between Gisborne and Tolaga Bay.

It was a similar situation between Muriwai and Wairoa on SH2, which was reopened at around 10.30am.

SH35 was reopened from Okitū to Te Araroa at around 10am.

NZ Transport Agency/Waka Kotahi expected to reopen the Punaruku slip site to Wharekahika/Hicks Bay later on Monday and SH2 north was reopened to convoy access at the Goldsmith slip in Waioeka Gorge Monday morning.

A giant tree went crashing to the ground at Nelson Park during Sunday's storm in Gisborne. Photo / Chris Taewa

Raparapariki, inland from Ruatōria, recorded the heaviest rainfall of 275 millimetres during the event. Mata recorded 162mm, Arowhana 130, Ruatōria 78.5, Wharerata 66.2, Gisborne city 52.78 and Tokomaru Bay 41.8.

Firstlight Network dealt with a high number of outages, up to 2300 at the peak.

Repairs crews were on the job again at first light Monday morning.

Some people were still without power later Monday.

Anyone still without power this morning was urged to contact Firstlight on O800206207.

Gisborne firefighters received 13 calls to storm-related damage on Sunday.

Part of a fence of a home on Gladstone Rd was wiped out by tree. Photo / NZME

A worker was busy on Monday chopping up and clearing away a tree that went through a concrete fence at an unoccupied house in Gladstone Rd near the entrance to Harry Barker Reserve. Photo / Chris Taewa

That included loose scaffolding at a house in Titoki St, a roofing iron issue in Susan St, facia damage at the House of Breakthrough across the road from Gisborne Hospital, a tree over powerlines in Fox St, another tree down in Palmerston Rd, a tree through a skylight at a house in Gaddums Hill Road and another tree through a fence in Darwin Rd.

Heavy seas associated with Vaianu began to ease on Monday morning.

It was wall-to-wall whitewater as big waves swept on to the coastline on Sunday across Tairawhiti, with the exception of the city beaches where it remained quite small. Photo / Murray Robertson

Stormy seas from the northeast of between 3m and 4.5m swept into East Coast beaches on Sunday.

Gisborne District Council was forced to open the emergency sewage discharge valves at Oak St and Gladstone Rd Bridge due to inundation of the wastewater system at 12pm Sunday. The valves were shut again later that afternoon.

Heavy seas pounded beaches along the East Coast throughout Sunday, with waves measured at between 3 and 4.5 metres, including this shot at Wainui just after high tide that afternoon. Photo / Murray Robertson

Health warning signs went up at city rivers and beaches. The warning remains in place for five days.

Green said it was great to see the New Zealand Defence Force here again before Vaianu’s arrival.

“We had vehicles and troops in [Wharekahika]/Hicks Bay, Ruatōria and Gisborne ... also additional personnel from Fire and Emergency NZ.

“They worked in with our other emergency services and we appreciated them being here.”

A screenshot of a video posted on Facebook by Gisborne man Mike Hall shows corrugated iron fencing flying across Roebuck Rd seconds after he and another driving going the other way passed it.

Mayor Rehette Stoltz described it as “quite the weekend for our region”.

“While we avoided the worst of Vaianu, there was still a lot of damage across Tairāwhiti and [on] Monday morning there was plenty of cleaning up and reconnection going on.

“There was a tremendous amount of mahi happening out there from roading crews, contractors and other workers. We appreciate their work a lot.

“Tairāwhiti really showed what a calm head and proper preparedness is about and I am very proud of the efforts of everyone.”