Wairoa cleans up and counts cost of yet another flood

Residents and business owners in Wairoa are busy cleaning up and counting the cost of yet another flood following last week's devastating deluge.

At least 14 properties in the town have been yellow-stickered after the river burst its banks late on Thursday evening.

Among them is Diane Downey, who owns citrus products business The Limery, which was also among hundreds of properties flooded in 2024.

Downey told RNZ that although the flooding wasn't as bad this time it still caused tens of thousands of dollars of damage and will take some time to recover from.

About 2cm of silt flowed through the factory and packhouse, and the local fire brigade has been helping to wash it out before it dries.

"We just cleared and blasted everything out and now we're drying it," Downey said. "Come tomorrow, we have to sanitise everything now we've done the preliminary and get it back to food grade standard."

One of their problems is in the chiller, where a year's worth of lime juice is frozen in 1000 litre cubed containers. The silty floodwater has frozen the bottom of the containers to the chiller floor.

"Because we've been harvesting, we have been working flat-out and juicing flat-out [so] we've been freezing it in pelicons," explains Downey.

"Now, with the water and silt going through, it's frozen all the bottom ones onto the floor.

"So we have to be super careful... to defrost and get them out one by one, on a very slippery skate rink of a floor."

"We're working really hard to save as much as we can."

Downey house has also been yellow stickered.

"With the water coming in, it's gotten into the walls and everything all around, right into the garage. It was only a foot deep this time but the same sort of damage as last time," she said.

In 2024's flood, The Limery had over a million dollars in damage.

"We lost less this time because we had less to lose," Downey said.

"We have to carry on business as usual. We don't have grants and funding to get through so have to make it happen yourself other wise staff don't get paid."

'I've really had enough'

One elderly Wairoa resident has decided to sell her home because she has had enough of her property flooding.

Irelle Lowe's property was badly flooded in 2024 and the house needed rebuilding. During Thursday's flood, the water rose up to her floorboards and flooded her garage.

The 85-year-old told RNZ the latest flood ruined everything in her garage, so it's time to get out.

"I don't want to go through it again, not inside the house. I'm going to shift if I can, I've really had enough and I'm too old," she said.

She is feeling lucky that her house wasn't ruined again, but said floodwaters swept through her garage.

"All sorts of bits and peices that were on the floor will all have to go. I've lost quite a lot of stuff but can't do much about it," Lowe said.

'We've got to work out how to fix this'

Wairoa's Mayor Craig Little said the town is in recovery mode and getting on with the clean up, and he plans to visit each of the 14 yellow stickered properties tomorrow.

"I'll go to each one on Monday, have a walk around and see what they need," he said.

"We still have a little bit of money in the mayoral relief fund from the previous flood. It's not much but might give them a bit of help."

There will also be a big focus on checking the roading network this week, as Little said the damage is extensive and expensive.

"It will be significant because the roads are a hell of a mess - even the main road from town, I couldn't get in initially," Little said.

The mayor is keen to see the Hawke's Bay Regional Council, who manage the river mouth, look at why the Kopu Road area keeps flooding.

"We've got to work out how to fix this. They need to look into this seriously.

"Are we managing the bar in the right way? We will be really pushing to see what went wrong.

"We have to make sure everything was done correctly and in a timely manner. I'm sure the regional council will be up to those discussions."

Another discussion Little said the storm raised was council amalgamation. He said this weather event proved Wairoa District Council can operate independently of the region's other councils.

"We stood up our crews by ourselves, we did everytthing by ourselves," Little said.

"Once again the road was blocked out to Hawke's Bay, so I think it wouldn't have worked as well under amalgamation. It's as simple as that."