Two “urgent” reviews into what caused the flooding of Wairoa in June are expected to be completed soon.
A total of 420 rural, commercial, and residential properties were affected and 100 people were evacuated when the town flooded on June 26.
The cause of the flooding has been attributed to the Wairoa River bar being left closed because the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council failed to move quickly enough to get it cleared.
Wairoa Mayor Craig Little and locals were furious at the council, going so far as to seek, unsuccessfully, an apology. Tensions have been heightened, with regional council staff receiving a death threat the day after the event.
There is also talk of a class action being taken by affected locals against the regional council.
A few days after the flooding, which caused an estimated $40 million in damage, the regional council’s chief executive Nic Peet said the council understood the level of frustration in the town.
He announced that his council was “urgently reviewing the cause of flooding in southern Wairoa, operating procedures for the river mouth openings, and timelines associated with the event”.
“We will make these review outcomes public – with the review of operating procedures expected this week. The technical review of flooding causes will be done as fast as possible, but is complex,” Peet said at the time.
A council spokesperson initially said work on the review was ongoing but would not say when it would be completed.
Asked for more information, the spokesperson responded: “You would have to ask the reviewers”. Asked who the reviewers were, the spokesperson said: “We are not comfortable sharing this information until all the reviews are complete”.
The spokesperson later said the council aimed to have its review completed by the end of this month and “we are making progress as expected”.
“We are in the midst of fact-checking, which is a standard step in the review process. The three reviews commissioned by HBRC are: Examination of Our Standard Operating Procedures, Technical Evaluation of Data and An Assessment of the Decision-Making Process Regarding the Wairoa River Bar Opening,” he said.
Wairoa Mayor Craig Little and locals were furious at Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, going so far as seeking (unsuccessfully) an apology from it.
Around the same time that the regional council announced that it was undertaking an urgent review, the government announced it too would undertake an urgent review into the Wairoa flood response.
Announced in early July by Minister for the Environment Penny Simmonds, Minister of Emergency Management and Recovery Mark Mitchell and Minister of Local Government Simeon Brown, the review was expected to be completed by the end of August.
A spokesperson from Simmonds office said the final report would be submitted to the Ministry for the Environment by the end of this month.
“After ministers have seen the final report, it will be made public on the Ministry for the Environment website (date to be confirmed),” she said.
- Stuff