The Cyclone Gabrielle flood review for Hawke’s Bay reveals resourcing and funding of river and flood management were inadequate in many areas.
The Hawke’s Bay Independent Flood Review was presented to the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council today
The panel independent of the council includes Dr Phil Mitchell Chair, Kyle Christensen and Bernadette Roka Arapere and they took contributions from the public.
Findings in the report
The report calls for better collaboration between local and central governments, mana whenua communities, and businesses to enhance future flood management and resilience strategies in the region.
The Hawke’s Bay Independent Flood Review makes 47 recommendations across 7 key areas.
The key areas focus on improving structural works, flood event management, planning controls, river channel maintenance, engagement with mana whenua, community involvement, and HBRC resourcing and funding for flood resilience.
“Weak and insufficient planning direction has enabled poor planning decisions, and shows just how short society’s memory is when it comes to matters of flood hazard management,” Dr Phil Mitchell says.
“The fact that there were relatively new housing developments in areas of known flood risk suggests that lessons from the past have not been learnt, and development has been allowed in high hazard areas.”
Mana whenua disproportionately impacted
Bernadette Roka Arapere says the panel considers that mana whenua were disproportionately impacted by the flood.
Throughout the region there were marae, papakāinga, and urupā on marginal floodplain land and close to rivers, which were devastatingly inundated during the flood.
The panel observed a recurring pattern where land currently inhabited by Māori communities is a remnant of their once significantly larger holdings prior to pākehā settlement.
They received feedback there was a disconnect between some mana whenua groups and HBRC and the perception the HBRC doesn’t protect mana whenua communities in the some way others are protected against flood risk.
HBRC should recognise and provide for Māori communities and lower socio economic areas that are disproportionately at risk, Arapere says as in many places there was known flood risk with no structural flood defences or planning to provide management.
“HBRC should recognise and provide for Māori communities and lower socio economic areas that are disproportionately exposed to flood risk, because flood protection of those areas does not satisfy HBRC traditional cost/ benefit approaches.”
The panel recognises more needs to be done to work with mana whenua at the level of governance, inequities need to be acknowledged, and a new flood management model needs to be developed with mana whenua.
Plans to work with communities
The panel says they were continually amazed by stories shared by mana whenua and other communities they met. They say it’s essential the council treats the communities as project partners instead of just consulting and seeking feedback.
“Not only was the information instructive, but the selfless actions of individuals, whānau, and whole communities during and after the flood impressed us in ways that cannot be expressed and will stay with us,” says the panel
Regional council needs government support
The current model relies on funding from local rates and the panel says this won’t be sufficient to fund long-term solutions.
“From a regional perspective, the cost of rebuilding and improving flood management infrastructure is likely to be unaffordable so central government assistance will be needed,” the panel says.
“This is a significant issue for smaller rural communities, and especially Māori communities where the value of land that has been marginalised over decades is considered insufficient to cover the cost of its protection.”