Gisborne Herald
  • Gisborne Herald Home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport

Locations

  • Gisborne
  • Bay of Plenty
  • Hawke's Bay

Media

  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Gisborne Herald

Road to recovery

Gisborne Herald
16 Mar, 2023 09:42 PMQuick Read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

EXTENSIVE ROAD DAMAGE: The East Coast's State Highway 35 was extensively damaged. Damage to the roading network includes this section that flood waters washed out near Te Araroa, on the East Cape. Photo: Supplied

EXTENSIVE ROAD DAMAGE: The East Coast's State Highway 35 was extensively damaged. Damage to the roading network includes this section that flood waters washed out near Te Araroa, on the East Cape. Photo: Supplied

Connections and utilities are slowly being restored as Tairāwhiti begins its long road to recovery after suffering at the hands of Cyclone Gabrielle.

Tairāwhiti Civil Defence group controller Ben Green says there is still a long way to go before everyone is located, has their needs met and are connected once again.

“We have our work cut out for us,” says Mr Green.

‘We are focused on securing a reliable water supply, reaching isolated people and re-establishing phone and internet connections.”

The water situation with the devastating damage to the pipeline took a turn for the worse yesterday when the back-up Waipaoa Treatment Plant went down, resulting in text alert sent out across the district.

Keep up to date with the day's biggest stories

Sign up to our daily curated newsletter for the day's top stories straight to your inbox.
Please email me competitions, offers and other updates. You can stop these at any time.
By signing up for this newsletter, you agree to NZME’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

While the situation has improved slightly, the message remains the same — restrict use as much as possible, using water only for drinking, hygiene and food preparation.

“The back-up plant at Waipaoa is stabilised and flowing but it will take time to fill the depleted city reservoirs,” Mr Green said.

The good news is the water is treated to New Zealand drinking water standards and doesn’t need to be boiled.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

“We have a plan in place to ensure we have a supply of drinking water to the city should the treatment plant fail again.”

This will include key spots around the city where people can bring their own containers to collect water.

“We have a long way to go before we can be sure all our people have been located, their basic needs met and we are all connected once again.”

While State Highway 2 has opened in the north to Opotiki, and in the south to Wairoa between 7am and 7pm, SH35 from Tolaga Bay to Te Puia Springs remains closed, as is SH2 from Wairoa to Napier.

“It will be some time before Gisborne people will be able to easily drive to Napier.”

There is plenty of petrol in the city with around 100,000 litres cruising in yesterday, and more expected in the coming days.

Food supplies have also been coming into the region, with large convoys coming through the Waioeka Gorge.

Police say there are around 3500 people unaccounted for throughout New Zealand, 99 percent of them in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

They stress these are not missing people, rather those who have been unable to be contacted to establish their whereabouts.

There have been 529 welfare assessments done, with more being added daily.

People are cleaning out damaged furniture and possessions from flood-stricken homes.

To support this, the council has teamed up with Aratu, LeaderBrand and Lift4U to open three sites where locals can collect untreated water for cleaning.

Optilog NZ Ltd (end of Dunstan Road, Matawhero), Wash’n Go (156 Carnarvon Street) and Te Tini Porou carpark (corner Huxley and Tyndall roads) will be open Sunday through to Tuesday from 8am to 4pm.

A number of waste services and others are heading to Te Karaka today to help people sort through their damaged furniture.

There have been 85 homes yellow-stickered and 10 red-stickered to date with many more expected to be added to the list as inspectors work their way through the region. A yellow sticker means access to your building is restricted as it may have sustained moderate damage or be on unstable land, while a red sticker means entry is prohibited.

Keep an eye on the Tairāwhiti Civil Defence Facebook for the latest information.

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Gisborne Herald

Gisborne Herald

Trust Tairāwhiti plans 'proactive approach' to tackle Gisborne's dropping cruise bookings

11 Jun 06:00 AM
Gisborne Herald

Youth blood donations drop 25%, raising supply concerns for NZBS

11 Jun 03:51 AM
Gisborne Herald

Rhythm and Vines organisers to support SuperGrans Tairāwhiti Trust with fundraising

11 Jun 02:22 AM

Clean water fuelling Pacific futures

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Gisborne Herald

Trust Tairāwhiti plans 'proactive approach' to tackle Gisborne's dropping cruise bookings

Trust Tairāwhiti plans 'proactive approach' to tackle Gisborne's dropping cruise bookings

11 Jun 06:00 AM

Cruise visits drop to 10 next season here - Trust Tairawhiti takes proactive approach.

Youth blood donations drop 25%, raising supply concerns for NZBS

Youth blood donations drop 25%, raising supply concerns for NZBS

11 Jun 03:51 AM
Rhythm and Vines organisers to support SuperGrans Tairāwhiti Trust with fundraising

Rhythm and Vines organisers to support SuperGrans Tairāwhiti Trust with fundraising

11 Jun 02:22 AM
Gisborne council urges participation in local elections, Māori wards vote

Gisborne council urges participation in local elections, Māori wards vote

11 Jun 12:37 AM
It was just a stopover – 18 months later, they call it home
sponsored

It was just a stopover – 18 months later, they call it home

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Gisborne Herald
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Gisborne Herald
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search