Cost of floods expected to be in tens of millions

By STEPHEN COOK AND KEVIN TAYLOR

A state of emergency remained in force in the Eastern Bay of Plenty overnight as floodwaters receded to reveal the extent of the devastation.

Although bathed in brilliant sunshine, thousands of hectares of farmland and hundreds of homes still lay under water from the region's worst floods in 50 years.

The worst appeared to have passed but the cost is expected to run into the tens of millions of dollars.

About 250mm of rain fell on the region over 48 hours, claiming two lives, swamping farmland, causing major slips and mudslides and forcing nearly 2000 people from their homes.

During the deluge the eastern bay was also hit by more than 100 earthquakes, adding to landslips and other flood damage.

Some 500 of the families evacuated during the weekend moved back into their homes yesterday, but a further 1000 from Whakatane, Edgecumbe and Ohope had to spend another night in temporary shelters.

Up to 700 people in the inland Waimana farm district, 27km southeast of Whakatane, were still cut off by floodwaters with no electricity, phones or highway access expected for at least three days.

Food was flown in and a young boy was evacuated by air last night after an asthma attack.

Reports of looters raiding empty homes forced police and the Army to set up patrols outside the homes.

The Government announced a number of assistance measures yesterday. Sensitive to criticism that it reacted too slowly to February's storm in the lower North Island, Prime Minister Helen Clark and Civil Defence Minister George Hawkins surveyed the sodden districts from an Air Force helicopter yesterday.

Helen Clark cancelled her usual post-Cabinet press conference to fly to Whakatane with Mr Hawkins.

As their helicopter was taking off the Government issued a statement from the pair outlining interim measures. No figures were given, except for the mayoral relief fund top-ups.

The Government said the needs of farmers could not be accurately assessed until floodwaters had receded.

A clean-up operation began in the worst hit areas of Opotiki, Whakatane, Edgecumbe, Te Teko, Thornton and Awakeri.


Helen Clark said the forces of nature had created some tragic sights around Bryans Beach.

"Where the slip came down, it just tossed a house around like it was matchsticks and it clearly had enormous force behind it.

"The people next door said they thought the last pohutukawa moved from half way up the slope in three seconds to crush the house. So it has been a very sudden and very traumatic event for people here."

For farmers the cost of the weekend flooding is likely to be huge.

With the calving season soon, many farmers worked furiously during the day to move thousands of cattle to higher ground.

The waterlogged Rangitaiki Plains was the worst affected area after two stopbanks burst on Sunday afternoon, swallowing up hundreds of hectares of farmland.

In a bid to counter floodwaters moving down the swollen river towards nearby townships, the Whakatane District Council yesterday made a 10m exit canal in the stopbank of the lower Rangitaiki River to try to drain some of the water.

But for farmers in lower-lying areas the worst was not over, with floodwaters still flowing from the breach above Edgecumbe towards their land.

During the weekend, thousands of hectares of farmland already under water were hit again when huge volumes of water were spilled from the Matahina hydro-electricity dam.

Power station operator TrustPower said the earth dam, on the Rangitaiki River, was filled beyond capacity by the heavy rains.

Yesterday afternoon, TrustPower said it was allowing water in the dam to build to a much higher level than normal to try to protect lower lying areas.


The civil defence emergency in the district would be reassessed again at 9am today.

Opotiki Mayor John Forbes said it could take a week to clean up all the landslips and there would be major damage to private property and the roads.

Insurance Council chief executive Chris Ryan said loss adjusters were having problems assessing damage yesterday as high water levels were still hampering access.

But he expected damage costs to run into "the tens of millions of dollars".

Helen Clark said she had been advised that 2000ha had been damaged, compared with several hundred thousand hectares covered by the lower North Island floods.

New Zealand was coping with its second major flood in less than six months.

"It tells us that our climate is becoming much more erratic," she said.

"It is most unusual to get events of this scale within a few months of each other," she said.

Deputy Whakatane Mayor Brian Birkett said everything that possible would be done to help the affected families.

He said a heavy rain warning had been in place but there had been no suggestion there would be such devastation. The flood had been the worst in 50 years and the clean-up would be huge.

Many people had been traumatised by the floods, made worse by the earthquakes which hit the area.

"That was the last thing we needed," he said.

"But there is a real strength of spirit in this community. We will get through this."

United Future MP Judy Turner, who was helping at the Whakatane evacuation centre yesterday, called for the Government to match public donations for the flooding victims dollar-for-dollar.

What the Government is offering

The Government yesterday announced measures to help people in the flooded Bay of Plenty. They included:

A free helpline 0800 77 9997

A "one stop shop" for government agency support.

$20,000 grants to Opotiki and Whakatane district mayoral relief funds.

Help to cover costs of those forced from their homes in Whakatane and Opotiki districts.

More Task Force Green help.