Flooding response heart-warming

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

Neighbours, friends and strangers banding together to quickly get sandbags in place to protect homes from rising floodwater at Sponge Bay, along with the surf life saving emergency squad evacuating some residents in IRBs, made for dramatic and heart-warming video footage being shared yesterday.

Thankfully the rain eased back before the floodwater inundated homes but it was a close-run thing . . . equally back in the city, where that happened just in time to take pressure off before high tide at around 6pm. The city's swollen and fast-flowing rivers looked threatening at the lip of their banks.

The rainfall has been intense — 209mm registered at Gisborne Airport over the 48 hours to 7am today; the past three days are the fourth-wettest for Gisborne city since records began in 1937. Some of our hill country and parts of the Coast have had even more rain.

Road and property damage has been extensive. Floodwaters have entered “a couple of homes” in the city (the council is working with the owners and did not reveal where the properties are this morning). Damage is being assessed and where possible remedied or temporary fixes put in place by 600 contractors and council staff out around the district today.

Much of the surface flooding has lowered overnight but rivers and streams remain swollen. More rain is forecast for the next 24-36 hours on our sodden region, so residents near affected areas need to remain on watch. And it's a big no to anyone thinking it's a time to drive around checking out the flooding. A Civil Defence state of emergency is in place and will be reviewed this afternoon.

That the worst flooding has occurred in the new Sponge Bay subdivision has many shaking their heads. The area was originally a wetland, and is marked on the council's hazard maps as a flood zone. With official word that the flooding yesterday was not down to a blockage but the sheer volume of water, questions will need to be answered — in time — around the drainage design and construction for this development, and the consent process that allowed it to go ahead with what appears to be insufficient capacity.

This residential development is just over 10 years old. The fact climate change meant heavy downpours would become more intense over time, and hit us more regularly, was well known.

For now, though, it's a time to be thankful that more homes haven't been inundated, and to remain cautious and preferably at home.