Waipawa homes being assessed as residents begin massive cleanup

Harker St, Waipawa - the clean up of tonnes of river shingle is under way.

As evacuated Waipawa and Waipukurau residents were cautiously returning to their homes this morning to begin cleaning up what the floodwaters had left behind, a call went out to urgently evacuate residents from Drumpeel Rd in Ōtane.

The emergency clearly isn’t over for the traumatised district.

On Thursday afternoon, with a thunderstorm watch in place, Central Hawke’s Bay District Council was leading the creation of a temporary stopbank across Harker St, working with the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council to attempt to minimise any damage to properties in the event of rainfall over the coming days.

In the skies above Central Hawke’s Bay, under the auspices of Centralines and the council, a helicopter has flown out to assess damage, check on those isolated and to attempt to deliver some much-needed supplies.

Harker St, Waipawa, where construction of a temporary stopbank is under way.

About 150 homes in the “lower Waipawa” region are being assessed by building inspectors and many now bear white stickers allowing full access or yellow stickers permitting limited access.

Residents return to Bibby St, Waipawa, to start to clean up homes and salvage their possessions.

On Bibby St the old dairy - closed now for about 30 years - won’t be operating ever again. It prominently displays a red sticker meaning no access.

Victoria and Bibby streets were lined with cars on Wednesday afternoon as residents started to clean up. There was no sense of rush ... cars stopped side by side in the street as drivers leant out to check in with neighbours. The footpaths hosted small huddles of householders comparing their losses.

The railway bridge on the northern side of the Waipawa River is hanging in mid-air after the embankment was washed out.

One Bibby St resident was about to venture into her home for the first time since she was evacuated.

“I’m not sure what to expect. I think it’s okay ... our house is quite high. The garage was flooded though and we have plastic bins and all sorts that have floated in and we don’t know who they belong to.”

People were sharing out the contents of freezers that were no longer working due to water damage. Waste not, want not.

Waipawa School's new turf was no match for the force of the Waipawa River.

One resident surveyed a tangle of plastic chairs, buckets, bins and firewood enmeshed in her fence. “I don’t even know where all this has come from.”

The mud on the driveways will have to stay for now. Mains water is a precious commodity despite the Johnson St pumping station being repaired by early afternoon. Waipawa’s main pumping station on Tikokino Rd was still inaccessible on Wednesday and the damage was yet to be assessed.

Central Hawke’s Bay Mayor Alex Walker says, “The following days and weeks will be tough for us all, but we are in this together, supporting one another as we recover. Today is day three, let’s keep the morale up.”