The temporary bridge on Bushy Knoll Rd, Tairāwhiti, is impassable - but hanging on - after heavy rain. Photo / Supplied
The temporary bridge on Bushy Knoll Rd, Tairāwhiti, is impassable - but hanging on - after heavy rain. Photo / Supplied
The local State of Emergency in Tairāwhiti Gisborne has ended after torrential rain wreaked havoc on the district, leaving roads damaged and residents exhausted.
Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz lifted the state of emergency this afternoon effective immediately.
The removal of the state of emergency signals there is a shift from the response to the recovery phase.
Civil Defence group controller Ben Green praised the region for its response.
“It’s been great to see the relative calm across all areas,” he said.
“We’ve seen regional communities, iwi and emergency services, among others, well prepared and they’ve come together for our people.”
Te Kowhai Road, the Waipaoa River running high during heavy rain and flooding in Tairāwhiti Gisborne. Photo / Supplied
He felt for those who have already been through so much from cyclones Hale and Gabrielle.
“They’ve experienced significant impact already, and we are certainly seeing signs of fatigue out there. What does shine through though is the process of how quickly our processes and groups and structures came together as part of readiness and response operations,” he said.
MetService downgraded the district’s red heavy rain warning to an orange heavy rain warning this morning. The new warning is in place until 6pm.
The forecaster said that the area can expect to see another 25-40mm of rain, mainly north of Tolaga Bay.
“Note that while these expected rainfall accumulations do not meet official short term warning criteria an Orange Warning is being maintained since significant impacts such as slips, damage to roads, falling trees and damage to infrastructure such as powerlines could still occur.”
The district was put under the local State of Emergency on Thursday afternoon.
Waitangi Rd, Tairāwhiti, damaged in heavy rain. Photo / Supplied
MetService meteorologist Jessie Owen has warned that the district is in line for more bad weather following a quick respite.
“Unfortunately, there’s more on the way with rain bands coming from the west … from Monday,” she said.
The new batch of grey clouds has one silver lining - rainfall won’t be as prolonged as last week’s.
While the weather-battered region didn’t quite receive the predicted amount of rainfall it still did receive enough to cause landslides, rivers to rise and extensive damage to both the local and state highway roading networks.
Rainfall tallies came in at 565mms at Raparapaririki, inland from Ruatoria, 494mm at the Fernside Station telemetry station, inland from Tokomaru Bay, with a number of other Coast sites in excess of 400mm.
Mangapoike recorded 410mm, Waerenga-o-Kuri had 235mm, with the Waipaoa Station receiving 227mm, and Gisborne Airport 185mm.
