By 1news.co.nz and is republished with permission
Evacuations are underway for parts of Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay this morning as wild weather continues to lash the region.
Tairāwhiti Civil Defence said on social media around 2.30am that the township of Te Karaka, about 30km north-west from Gisborne, was evacuating after the Waipaoa River topped 7.68m.
“Extra police have been sent to help move the 700 people who live at Te Karaka. They are being encouraged to either relocate with whānau or to the welfare centre at Te Poho o Rawiri Marae in Kaiti,” it said.
The alert warned the town would become completely inaccessible once the river reached 8m.
Police were also going door-to-door on the riverside of Fergusson Drive, as several households evacuated to whānau.
Haumoana seawall deteriorating
A state of emergency had also been declared in the Heretaunga Ward region in Hastings District due to coastal inundation in Haumoana.
Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence said police were “knocking on doors, asking affected residences to evacuate”.
“Be prepared with a grab-bag for you and your pets with enough supplies for the duration of the event. If you feel you, your family and/or your property are at risk, immediately contact emergency services on 111.”
Duty controller at Hastings District Council Dean Ferguson told Morning Report the State of Emergency in Heretaunga Ward was put in place as the sea wall started to deteriorate.
“There were significant concerns” for inundation, he said. “It’s mainly a coastal problem, we are monitoring the rivers.”
The high tide was due about 8.30am with the swell likely to be high until late afternoon, Ferguson said.
Wairoa District Council also said its evacuation centre at Wairoa War Memorial Hall is “open for evacuees this morning”.
Earlier this week MetService issued an orange heavy rain warning for Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne, particularly from SH5 to Tolaga Bay from 9am Tuesday until 9pm Wednesday.
Gisborne Tairawhiti and Hawke’s Bay from Wairoa northwards, including Mahia Peninsula, were also expected to receive “severe gale southerlies gusting 120 km/h in exposed places” until 10am today.
A community Facebook page Māhaki Tiaki Tangata said a welfare centre had been set up at Te Karaka Area School.
‘We’ve been here before’ – Te Karaka community leaders
Te Karaka community leaders speak about wild weather overnight
Extra police were sent to help evacuate the 700 people who lived in the town 30km northwest of Gisborne.
https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.647.0_en.html#goog_192015036Play Video
Te Karaka community leaders speak about wild weather overnight5:05
Extra police were sent to help evacuate the 700 people who lived in the town 30km northwest of Gisborne.
Te Karaka community leaders Pimia Wehi and Dave Pikia told Breakfast they had “been here before”, referring to the floods which left the community devastated during Cyclone Gabrielle.
“I guess for us, our community know the drill and have gathered at our local kura, so we currently have 70 on site who have self-evacuated to the Te Karaka Area School and we also have about 80 people who have evacuated into Gisborne or Te Poho o Rawiri Marae,” said Wehi.
Pikia said it was “still rainy out there and our rivers are still rising”.
“Our first trigger is normally [when the river level gets to] 6.5m, which was around about midnight,” Wehi said.
“At that time, our team got together and discussed if we were going to push the self-evacuation button at that stage.
“Due to the darkness and a lot of debris and surface flooding in our area we chose to keep monitoring the rivers closely on the hour and have also been using satellite information.”
She said they were “really happy” to have police on site who could visit the elderly and vulnerable to encourage them to evacuate to Te Karaka Area School.
Pikia said the most important thing is that whānau were safe.
“At the moment, we’re currently isolated. And we’ve got three slips and also maybe potential powerlines being down. We need to make sure we move during the day.”
Wehi said the community “dig in and do what needs to happen”.
“They’ve just had a hot breakfast and whatever we could get from our pantry. Our community spirit is there and that’s really important to us.
“We just have to get on and do what we can do.”
Tairāwhiti Civil Defence said the Waimatā River is expected to reach 9m, “which will mean self-evacuation of households on Riverside Road at Kerrs Gate, and across the river in lower Graham Road.”
New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi said State Highway 35 was closed between Okitu and Tolaga Bay due to surface flooding.
Households in lower Marion Drive and Thompson Street are also being warned to prepare to move.
