Rangitīkei Mayor Andy Watson said the storm’s impact “could have been 100 times worse”.
“The flooding that was predicted very early on would have been worse than 2004 if it had eventuated,” Watson said.
“The very high winds that were predicted certainly hit us and that was the majority of damage in the networks.”
Watson said the storm had a significant impact on commercial forests, with up to 1000ha of trees ruined, and on livestock.
He was aware of one farmer who had lost 200 lambs through exposure to the weather.
He said the storm’s financial impact was significant.
“It comes at a time when we have just picked up extra roading money because of our concerns with the network,” he said.
Watson was referring to the approved request to NZTA for $2,816,000 (local share $957,440) to offset 2025-26 programme deferrals made to accommodate unplanned work on Taihape–Napier Rd.
In relation to the storm damage to roads, the council will fund the local share cost of $598,125 from a combination of targeted roading reserve budget and cash reserves.
The local share cost can be claimed from NZTA at the council’s financial assistance rate (FAR) of 66%.
NZTA rules about claims for emergency works allow for an extra 20% FAR, which can be applied once costs exceed the equivalent value of 10% of a council’s approved work programme.
The council’s 2025-26 approved programme value is $15,906,242.
Black said there had been positive discussions with NZTA in relation to the storm and the delay in response was because of the unconfirmed cost of repairs and road designs.
The negative impact of submitting the funding application and covering the local share cost was that it reduced future opportunities to fund unexpected emergency events.
Chief executive Carol Gordon suggested a submission could be made to the council’s Long-Term Plan 2027-37 to start rebuilding the reserves fund.
An emergency targeted fund could be established and funded over future years.
Watson said the council would need to consider it.
“We tried to set up a roading budget some time ago and put $300,000 into it. The reality is that our roading budget in the future is going to be severely impacted,” he said.
Councillor Jeff Wong moved a recommendation to submit the funding application and for the council to fund the local share cost.
Deputy Mayor Dave Wilson supported the motion.
“This is just a motion to push work on and get on-track following an event. The subsequent issue is how do we prepare ourselves in the future for putting some funds back into the tin and how do we look at resilience as an organisation? These are two separate things.
“Let’s just deal with giving our roading team and contractors the ability to push on and do as much as we can without impacting too much of the other workflows that we have got – we need to separate these two matters.”
Parks and reserves hit by storm
The district’s parks and reserves were significantly impacted by the storm, with costs estimated at $90,000 to $120,000.
A full clean-up was likely to take a “long time”.
The council voted to fund the clean-up costs, using a combination of $70,000 from the parks and reserves budget and $50,000 from general reserves.
Watson said the parks and reserves team had “gone out of their way” and “above and beyond” to reduce budgets by $70,000.
“They have been under the pump to find the most cost-effective way of dealing with this event,” Watson said.
“It would have been very easy for them to have just said ‘we are going to put massive crews in, at huge expense, everywhere possible and not try and look at an alternative option’.
“The reality is the work had to be done and this is the best result I could have hoped for.”
Wilson suggested it may result in a reduction in the level of service and defer further work in the future.
Fin Ocheduszko Brown is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.
