The extremely wet weather already this year has Tauranga’s council struggling to keep up with core services such as lawnmowing, as the Western Bay of Plenty council grapples with compromised roads.
It comes as work continues to clean up trees - some up to 150 years old - toppled by Cyclone Gabrielle last week, and to check others that may pose a safety risk after being damaged.
Tauranga City Council general manager of strategy, growth, and governance Christine Jones said back-to-back storms had caused delays to key projects as crews were diverted around the city to help with the clean-up.
“We’ve had a very wet start to the year with around five times the average rainfall we would expect to see in January. This has impacted a lot of the weather-dependent work council had planned to undertake.”
She said all the rain and warm temperatures also meant grass and weeds were “growing much faster than normal”.
“The bad weather is impacting our ability to mow our reserves and green spaces when the ground is wet and waterlogged.
“We are working with our contractors and hoping for a decent period of sunny days to get on top of the current backlog.”
Jones said the council’s wastewater treatment plants and water services worked at “absolute capacity to make sure services were not impacted by the storm” and it had been able to keep up the kerbside collection schedule.
Jones said the council wanted to acknowledge its staff, roading crews and contractors “who have worked very hard to maintain council services under these circumstances”.
She also noted the communities who “have been patient as we try to deliver normal services while clean-up and repairs are underway”.
The council’s spaces and places operations manager Warren Aitken said crews had been working tirelessly since the cyclone arrived on Monday to make the trees safer for people.
The bulk of the damage reported had been for breakages of limbs from trees, he said.
“Many of these have landed on the ground, however several ‘hangers’ have been caught up in the canopies of the trees. The hangers and unstable trees are our primary focus at the moment ...”
Aitken said areas of high use had been a priority but the council was working hard “to get out and look at as many trees as possible”.
“We have had a few trees totally uproot with the most significant ones being the large poplar and pine at Tutarawānanga - Yatton Park and a large macrocarpa in Memorial Park,” Aitken said.
“Large trees also fell across Devonport and Cameron Rds, and a large cedar fell across Botanical Rd and damaged power lines.”
Aitken said the trees in Tutarawānanga-Yatton Park were possibly between 100-150 years old.
On Tuesday, the council estimated about 30 trees had succumbed to the cyclone.
“At this stage, it’s hard to know how many trees in total have fallen over or are likely to require removal due to being damaged in the cyclone.”
Aitken said the bulk of the trees were chipped “and mulch placed around trees maintained by council to suppress weeds and improve tree health”.
“The wood is often stacked on the berm if it is safe to do so, and if it doesn’t get collected by local residents then it is later picked up by our contractors.”
Anyone who needs to report a fallen tree in a Tauranga public space should contact the council.
Western Bay council deputy chief executive officer and general manager infrastructure group Gary Allis said its core services and facilities remained largely unaffected by the cyclone.
Allis said this was because “we worked hard to keep these operational while responding to our communities’ weather-related needs”.
“The biggest impact has been on our local road network with some closures still in place, for example; Te Puna Station Rd. Our team continues to work tirelessly to get our roading network cleared and back up to speed as quickly as possible.”
Te Puna Station Rd was closed after flooding on Auckland Anniversary Weekend. It has since been plagued by large slips and underslips, meaning it will remain closed for the foreseeable future.
“Water Services have managed to cope through both weather events, apart from the need for some controlled waster-water discharges into Tauranga Harbour from the Katikati Treatment Plant over Auckland Anniversary weekend,’ Allis said.
“There is also significant coastal erosion – primarily at Waihī Beach, which has affected some beach accessways and a small playground near Albacore Avenue, Island View,” Allis said.
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