East Coast MP Dana Kirkpatrick wants a review of communications between this region and Bay of Plenty, following Friday's flooding emergency in the Waioweka Gorge.
East Coast MP Dana Kirkpatrick intends to collect all the information she can about the way the State Highway 2 Waioweka Gorge emergency was handled by some of the agencies involved.
In her view, it should have been managed better.
SH2 was reported closed in both directions at Waioweka Gorge on Friday morning after 322mm of rain fell over the area in just 48 hours, blocking culverts and triggering widespread debris flows across the road.
More than 40 people needed to be airlifted to safety after being cut off by the slips.
In a social media post at the weekend, Kirkpatrick said she was “intrigued” as to how a road could be closed, road crews pulled out and the road then closed for the weekend with apparently “no thought given to the 50 people stuck along that piece of highway”.
The MP wants to hear insights or stories from those affected.
“Please note I am not at all criticising the great work done by police, LandSAR [Land Search and Rescue], local pilots, residents and the Defence Force.
“We are all very grateful for their work, but this should not have been managed the way it was. There needs to be better communication between the likes of police and the NZTA [NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi].”
Road freight operators spoken to by the Gisborne Herald also want to see better communications in such situations.
“I will be contacting the NZTA to get their side of this unique situation,” Kirkpatrick told the Gisborne Herald.
“There were a lot of people with insights into what happened and I want to hear from them.
“The speed with which it happened, the highway closed from one end and not the other – I’m going to collate all of that information and will be part of the police debrief on it.
“How you manage an event between two regions like Tairāwhiti and the Bay of Plenty is at the heart of the matter.”
Forty people trapped by floodwaters and slips in the gorge had to be rescued by helicopters – private and military.
Kirkpatrick has also been part of arrangements being made to look after the welfare of people who remain affected in the gorge.
Continued closure of the road for “several weeks” was impacting directly on three to four families at Wairata, 11 people at Oponae and four people at the Manganuku campsite who chose not to leave their vehicles, she said.
“Arrangements have been made with Ōpōtiki District Council to take the lead in the welfare space for the residents.
“It’s being handled like a civil defence situation, ensuring regular contact and supplies of food and the like. We need to make sure the needs of those cut-off people continue to be met.”
Meanwhile, Tairāwhiti Mayor Rehette Stoltz said news that the highway will likely be closed for several weeks is “incredibly frustrating”.
“It will cause major disruption for Tairāwhiti. This is a lifeline route to the north for freight and essential supplies, access to health services, workers, visitors and whānau connections.”
The detours would be long and costly, she said.
“The impacts will be felt every day this road remains closed, especially by freight operators, tourism businesses and small local operators who rely on that connection.
“We understand this is a complex repair job, but our communities need urgency and clear communication. The council will continue to advocate strongly for a swift, well-resourced response to reopen the route safely as soon as possible ... also for stronger long-term investment in resilience because we can’t keep being knocked offline like this.
“Safety comes first, but our region also needs certainty and a route we can rely on.”
NZTA, in an update on Monday afternoon, said two significant slips had been declared safe for crews to enter.
Crews on the Gisborne side had cleared several small slips, removing 25 truckloads of material, and had removed 42 truckloads so far from the largest slip they could access.
About 30 truckloads of material had been removed from a major slip on the Ōpotiki side.
Orange heavy rain warnings were issued by MetService over Bay of Plenty including Rotorua and Gisborne, north of Tokomaru Bay, from Wednesday afternoon to Thursday morning.
“NZTA is actively monitoring the MetService weather warnings, which may impact work this week,” the NZTA update said.
The closure of State Highway 2 through the Waioweka Gorge has had an impact on InterCity services for passengers wishing to travel north from Gisborne by bus.
Gisborne’s i-Site has received a lot of inquiries about what services remain available.
“Direct services from Gisborne to Auckland have been cancelled altogether,” an i-Site spokesman said.
“From Thursday, though, people can catch a bus from here to Bayview just before Napier and transfer on to another service to Auckland via Taupō.
“It’s been put on by InterCity because of the gorge closure. It will operate on Thursdays, Fridays, Sundays and Mondays while the gorge road remains closed.”
The service south to Hawke’s Bay and Wellington on those days remains operational as usual.