Tangoio resident and farmer Barry Hoy (right) and son Merv Hoy, next to Barry's home and farm. Photo / Warren Buckland
Tangoio resident and farmer Barry Hoy (right) and son Merv Hoy, next to Barry's home and farm. Photo / Warren Buckland
Hawke’s Bay farmer Barry Hoy has been left puzzled about why his home has been zoned in Category 3 despite not being flooded during Cyclone Gabrielle.
About half of his Tangoio farm, north of Napier, was flooded on February 14 but his home is located on higher ground and wasnot damaged or flooded. The floodwaters from the cyclone stopped 25 metres short of his home.
If nothing changes, he will be offered a buyout for his house, which has been provisionally zoned in the highest flood-risk category, Category 3, and his property will be deemed unsafe to live on in the future.
“It’s totally wrong. The thing is if we are red [zoned] for our house, insurance will be really against us,” he said, of the provisional zoning.
“That is my grump, they are red [zoning] places where they haven’t even had a good look.”
Floodwaters just reached the containers at the end of the driveway, but did not make it to Barry Hoy's house during the cyclone. Photo / Warren Buckland
Hoy has lived in his house for 16 years.
Flood-prone areas around Hawke’s Bay have been placed into one of three risk categories (zones). That gives cyclone-impacted homeowners some clarity around whether they can safely return and rebuild their homes and settle house insurance claims (Category 1), whether they need to wait longer for conditions to be met such as improved stopbanks or raised homes before returning (Category 2) or whether their properties will be deemed unsafe to live on (Category 3).
Properties placed in Category 2 or 3 are indicative only, meaning they could still be moved to another category following community consultation.
A total of 236 properties in Hawke’s Bay have been provisionally included in Category 3.
That category includes a large part of Esk Valley, an area around Tangoio and Tangoio Beach, and pockets of Pakowhai and Rissington.
Debris and silt piled alongside a creek close to Tangoio Marae, an area hit hard by the February cyclone and which is now zoned Category 3. Photo / Warren Buckland
Hoy said he was looking forward to speaking with council representatives as part of the community consultation process, and had received a letter saying representatives would visit him soon.
“I will tell them I don’t want to be [in Category 3] and why should I?
“There is no reason. It will hit me hard mainly because of insurance, they won’t give you insurance [if you are in Category 3].”
He said he understood if part of his low-lying farmland was placed in Category 3 but not his home on Pakuratahi Valley Rd.
Fortunately, his 100 ewes survived the cyclone by moving to higher ground the night before the floods, after Hoy opened the gates.
Lead minister for Hawke’s Bay’s cyclone recovery, Kieran McAnulty, defended the process by which areas had been placed into each category.
Damage caused by the floodwaters on Barry Hoy's farm is shown in this photo taken about a week after the cyclone. The silt gives an indication of how high the water rose.
“In a situation where there are some houses in Category 3 that may not have been impacted, but the regional council and the insurance companies have provided information to say they can’t guarantee that they will be safe in the future, that is a pretty hard thing to grapple with.
“I can imagine that has been incredibly concerning and frustrating for that affected person.
“But right throughout this process we have been dealing with the insurance companies and they have been giving us a steer, and if they have given us an indication that they are unlikely to continue insuring properties in these areas then that has to be taken into consideration.”
He said the community consultation process was upcoming for anyone with concerns, like Hoy, about their provisional zoning.
However, he said there were restrictions around what decisions could be changed.
“There is a limit to what changes can be made because if the regional council modelling says an area is likely to be flooded again and the insurance sector have indicated that they are unlikely to continue insuring - that is a pretty confronting reality, but it is a reality nonetheless.”
Provisional zoning around Tangoio and Tangoio Beach area, north of Napier.
He said the situation was “really tough for people”, particularly those with a long history on their land, but it was important to be upfront.
Hoy previously owned a vineyard in Esk Valley for over two decades, which he sold in 2018. He could not bring himself to go up there because of the widespread damage from the cyclone and he felt for the many families who had lost their homes.
Hoy also said another concern in the cyclone recovery in Hawke’s Bay was the way government grants and payments were sometimes distributed.
Many grants, such as a $10,000 grant to farmers, went directly to property owners after the cyclone to help with the recovery.
Hoy said that was good, but he was concerned about cases where recovery funding was distributed through contractors as it can result in a bigger cost to taxpayers than if it goes directly through impacted property owners.
