Opinion: What kind of future does Hawke’s Bay want?

Walking through the destroyed Kereru Gorge after Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Paul Taylor

In Hawke’s Bay, we are no strangers to significant climate events. Cyclone Gabrielle arrived at our door, tore through our region, and left an imprint that will stay with us.

As we build resilience to future weather events, we hold the communities of the East Cape and Mt Maunganui in our thoughts and prayers following their own recent tragedies.

Destructive weather events – whether storms, heavy rain, or droughts - can be vast, complex, and deeply confronting.

Cyclone Gabrielle and other flood events showed us how vulnerable we are.

Yet, where there is crisis, there is opportunity.

At the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, the cyclone forced us to look hard at the risks we face, and realise that the protections of the past are no longer enough to protect our community in the future.

Since Gabrielle, we’ve repaired what was damaged, strengthened telemetry systems, and reinforced existing flood schemes.

That work matters — but it’s just the beginning.

Now we face a far bigger challenge. And with it, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

We are reimagining flood resilience for future generations — not just patching and fixing, but asking deeper questions about how we live with water in a changing climate. This isn’t something that can be decided behind closed doors or solved by engineers alone. We need your voice.

Around 84% of Hawke’s Bay’s population lives and works in areas protected by our two major flood schemes: the Heretaunga Plains and the Upper Tukituki.

These schemes — made up of stopbanks, pump stations, and hydraulic structures — have shaped where we live, how we farm, and how our towns have grown. They’ve also shaped our expectations of safety.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: no engineering solution can make us 100% safe. There will always be residual risk.

Living here means living with water, and resilience is as much about understanding risk as it is about trying to mitigate it.

That’s why we’ve brought together groups made up of community representatives, to explore shared visions and values for flood resilience. They’re grappling with what protection, adaptation, and partnership with the environment might look like in practice.

Now, we’re taking those conversations wider, to the whole community, and we’re asking some big, gnarly questions.

How can engineered solutions work alongside nature, rather than against it?

When should we prioritise stopbanks and pumps, and when should we give rivers more room to move?

How should flood resilience reflect Mātauranga Māori?

What kind of legacy do we want to leave for our children and grandchildren?

And perhaps the hardest question of all: how much are we willing to pay?

If every known engineering solution were delivered today, the cost would be around $600 million. To fund that, rates would roughly double over the next 20 years. There’s no getting around the fact that resilience has a price — and deciding how that cost is shared is as much a values question as an economic one.

These aren’t easy conversations. There are no perfect answers.

You as the people of Hawke’s Bay carry lived experience, local knowledge, and deep care for this place. We want to hear from voices of all ages, backgrounds, and communities.

Flood resilience isn’t just about infrastructure; it’s about who we are, what we value, and how we choose to look after one another in an uncertain climate.

Have your say and join the conversation by taking part in our flood resilience survey, open February 2 to February 20. You can find it at hbrc.info/floodsurvey.

• This piece was co-written by Hawke’s Bay Regional Council Deputy Chair Jerf van Beek and Regional Council Tamatea/CHB councillor Tony Kuklinski.