Giving way under weight of water

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

Opinion

Few weeks in local history can have started on as bleak a note as this one as our rain-drenched district struggles to return to even a fraction of normality.

While the weekend rain was not quite as heavy as predicted, it was enough to make a bad situation even worse — especially for the East Coast and indeed all the region’s rural sector.

Numerous roads throughout the district are closed or restricted and the main road north is expected to remain closed until at least Friday due to cracking on Otoko Hill, blocking off the essential flow of goods and supplies and forcing trucks  to take a much longer route through Taupo and Napier.

Facebook has carried numerous shots of flooded and broken roads around the region and television news showed some landslides that were continuing to slip, with the sodden land described as being like porridge.

The present bleak situation will improve as showers clear and fine weather is expected next week — although most of winter is still to come.

One aspect that is becoming more and more evident is the potential for fatigue and mental strain caused by two cyclones in succession followed by the latest deluge.

There are many house owners both in the wider district and in the city waiting anxiously for decisions on what is to be done with their properties.

The Government has said it will assist with the cost of buying the most at-risk level 3 properties but there is concern what the effect will be on Gisborne District Council and how much it will be expected to contribute.

Against all that angst, the people of the district and our support agencies and volunteers have rallied well, including a strong input from marae and schools in affected areas. The question is how long can that be expected to continue.

It’s not as if there was nothing else happening with the National Party holding its annual conference just four months from the election with strong emphasis on law and order, a theme it will undoubtedly continue.

On the world scene there was an astonishing development in Russia with the mercenary Wagner group revolting and sending a column which reached within 200 kilometres of Moscow. That situation seems to have eased with a truce that has seen the Wagner commander Yevgeny Prigozhin leaving the country.

Although the immediate crisis has stopped, commentators are wondering what the ultimate outcome might be for Vladimir Putin.

All that is just background noise, however, for the people of Tairāwhiti Gisborne. What we all want is to stop hearing rain on the roof.