Government, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council commit millions to protect Whirinaki from floods

Pan Pac general manager Tony Clifford says the firm is right behind Hawke's Bay Regional Council's flood mitigation project. Photo / Warren Buckland

Funding has been granted for a new plan to protect a huge Hawke’s Bay business from flooding and move the community’s homes around it out of post-cyclone limbo.

The plan will protect Pan Pac Forest Products’ mill at Whirinaki and see 46 homes that were inundated by water as Cyclone Gabrielle hit on February 14, 2023 move from Category 2C to Category 1.

Whirinaki residents have fought long and hard for their community. More than a year ago, one couple even installed a seat outside their home with two skeletons sitting on it and a sign that read “waiting on decisions”.

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC) said in January its initial flood resilience project, which included raising and strengthening stopbanks and raising a section of State Highway 2 and upgrading its culverts, was facing a large funding shortfall.

The project was needed to move the community’s post-cyclone Category 2C properties into Category 1 and was expected to be funded through Transport Rebuild East Coast (Trec).

But a significant reduction to Trec’s budget meant the funding was no longer available for it, leaving HBRC to again petition the Government for funding.

An aerial photo showing the extensive flooding at the Pan Pac Forest Products mill at Whirinaki.

Now the Government has agreed to redirect an additional $9 million and the regional council has committed a further $3m, after a change of design.

It will allow the on-hold project to go ahead.

HBRC chair Hinewai Ormsby said it marked a significant milestone for the Whirinaki community and residents who had faced considerable uncertainty.

“The funding commitments from our council and central Government demonstrate our shared belief in the project’s benefits for impacted property owners. Most importantly, it will help them move forward with their lives,” Ormsby said.

Pan Pac Forest Products general manager Tony Clifford said he was delighted and it would provide confidence that its site is durable.

“I couldn’t ask our employees to go through the aftermath of a cyclone again,” Clifford said.

HBRC said over the past six months, it explored options to reduce the project’s costs, which escalated to more than $34m from the original $11m budget, creating a shortfall.

“The original stopbank alignment that followed the Whirinaki Drain required a new culvert to be built under the State Highway and significant road-raising to tie the road into the stopbanks, resulting in the cost blowout,” it said in a statement.

“With a refined design, the cost had been reduced to about $23 million, with the new funding bridging the gap from the original budget.”

HBRC and its design team were working through the design details of the proposed new alignment.

“The updated alignment still includes raising State Highway 2 and stopbanks from the highway to the coast to provide flood mitigation to Category 2C areas,” the statement said.

“The raising of SH2 is now more modest due to the revised location being at a higher elevation.

“The works still include upgrades to the existing stopbank around Pan Pac Forest Products to protect the industrial area, but due to the new alignment being further north it removes the need to upgrade the Whirinaki Drain culvert under SH2.

“As the design progresses and we have greater certainty on the detail of the stopbank design, including its height and width, further information will be made public once we have engaged with affected landowners and local residents.”

HBRC councillor Martin Williams said the project was “mission-critical”, not just for the Whirinaki communities it would better protect but for the Hawke’s Bay economy.

“The Pan Pac pulp mill, one of the region’s biggest employers, was severely impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle. With rising electricity and insurance costs and a highly volatile export market, I doubt the mill would survive another cyclone without this stopbank project. Simply put, this project is in the ‘too-important-to-fail’ category,” Williams said.

Clifford said they were right behind the council plan.

“It’s hard to say what any future weather event would look like but if we haven’t done our utmost to prepare and protect [the mill], any investor would be saying ‘what’s the point’,” he said.

He said Pan Pac was back running at 95% after the rebuild.

“There are a few teething problems but that’s expected with new plants.

“We are concerned about the winter, with the cost of electricity, but hopefully the recent rain around the country will help ease that.”

Clifford said along with the stopbank, the management of the river mouth was a critical part of future flood protection.

“We need both and HBRC has taken steps in the right direction by installing a river level monitor and cameras.

“It means all that work that went into the rebuild will not be wasted.

“We will be doing whatever we can to support [the] council, including supplying fill from our quarries for use on the stopbanks.”

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.