Wind picking up, battering a sandy Eskdale. Video / Paul Taylor
OPINION:
A month ago, Hawke’s Bay woke up knowing Cyclone Gabrielle’s fury would cause some damage.
The first place most people were looking toward at first light was the sea, expecting a storm surge of note could do exactly what we’d watched happen in the Coromandel the day before.
Then the water hit us from behind, a deluge delivered from our hill country to our doorstep that becomes more astonishing with every day that passes.
Now that the adrenaline has subsided, we’re left with a ruin that we will eventually clean up.
We’ve achieved so much of that in a month, with local and New Zealand-wide mahi, and yet in many places, it feels like we’ve barely made a dent.
On Friday in Esk Valley, the wind swept through as a thunderstorm engulfed Napier 10 kilometres away.
The scene our photographers captured as the dust and silt blew through the abandoned wine country might as well have been the start of an apocalypse movie.
Nothing will be normal here, or in Tūtira, or Pākōwhai, or Pātoka, for several years, if ever.
In the hours and days following the flood, our communities needed rescuing. They needed power, food, water, essentials, a bridge out of Napier, and strong policing to get them back on their feet.
What they need over the next few months are answers and accountability.
So far there is one inquiry about slash, which doesn’t extend south of Wairoa.
Putting political rhetoric aside, it’s important to note that Hawke’s Bay Regional Council says it doesn’t believe logging waste caused significant problems in Napier and Hastings.
Hawke's Bay Regional Council say upgrades to stopbanks near Taradale prevented "catastrophic" flooding in Napier, but questions remain. Photo / Paul Taylor
The trees seen tangled in bridges and washed up on Marine Parade aren’t forestry offcuts, it says.
Fair enough, though the people of Mohaka might like a word about the wooden chaos that washed up on their beaches.
More importantly, what needs to happen, and soon, is a thorough look at Civil Defence’s and Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s combined preparations and actions on the night of February 13 and into February 14.
Of particular interest are the calls they made in Esk Valley - a known flooding hotspot.
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council has so far confirmed it never issued a valley-wide advance evacuation notice, instead choosing to warn only those it deemed to be at specific risk.
A month on, and it is no longer enough to simply say the water exceeded all forecasts; that it knocked out monitoring equipment; that it left those tasked with keeping us safe flying blind.
The chaos in Pākōwhai, Puketapu, Waiohiki and Omāhu - where stopbanks breached and overtopped far later than the floods in Esk Valley, again without enough warning - also warrants detailed explanations.
For the sake of people who have lost members of their friends and family, the council and Civil Defence need to show their working.
They have to let the public inside what was happening in those offices on the night and morning of the flood - to explain what calls were being made, and why.
It may well be a timeline that makes for ugly reading. Co-ordinating disaster responses is one of humanity’s most challenging jobs, particularly when communications go down to the degree that they did.
What it shouldn’t need is an inquiry to ensure it becomes public. But if that’s what it takes, so be it.
