Wairoa flood was ‘like a bath with the plug left in’

Twin sisters Kandhi and Kimani Karangaroa were among the many who pitched in after Wairoa was hit again by flooding. “That’s what we do," Mayor Craig Little said. Photo / Paul Rickard

Wairoa Mayor Craig Little is adamant – the flooding of Wairoa did not need to happen.

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council should have opened the bar at the mouth of the Wairoa River earlier, he told the Gisborne Herald in Wairoa this week.

“It’s not rocket science.”

The regional council opened the bar on Tuesday, the day before heavy flooding began, stating an earlier opening would have likely left insufficient flow in the river to keep a new opening in place.

Little said the regional council also stated the work would have been dangerous, but he believed the council, by holding off, had instead made it “even more dangerous” for contractors.

Wairoa would move on and decide what needed to be done to make Wairoa better, he said.

“That’s what we do.”

Wairoa Mayor Craig Little, pictured with Minister for Emergency Management and Recovery Mark Mitchell, says the town's flooding could have been avoided if the bar at the mouth of the Wairoa River had been opened earlier. Photo / Paul Rickard

Little was pleased that Prime Minister Christopher Luxon would be in Wairoa on Saturday although pointed out “the Government did not create this”.

The rainfall in last week’s storm had been “normal” not “bad”, he said, and “we kept saying ‘open the bar’ “.

It should have been opened on the Monday, he said.

“Everyone else was saying that. It’s like a bath - if you don’t pull the plug out, she’s going to come out over the top.”

Eighty homes were unliveable because of Cyclone Gabrielle “and people are looking at 80 homes here thinking ‘how are we ever going get ahead?’

“So there’s a hell of a lot of stress.”

Little paid tribute to the many volunteers involved in the clean-up of devastated parts of Wairoa.

One volunteer clearing mud from the homes of “my two girls” told the Herald such scenes were happening all over Wairoa.

“People are just mingling and helping. The number of people on the streets – it’s just like a party with no beer.”

That summed up Wairoa, Little said.

“We just get on with it.”

The Government has announced an urgent review will be held into how the regional council managed the Wairoa River.

Nūhaka School students deliver a wheelbarrow of food to McLean St residents as they cleaned up after last week's flooding in Wairoa. Photo / Paul Rickard