Cyclone Gabrielle: Parts of Hawke’s Bay still vulnerable as bad weather continues

About 2000 households in Hawke’s Bay remain without power and essential supplies continue to be choppered in to rural communities still cut off since Cyclone Gabrielle.

Those without power are in Rissington and Te Pōhue and Tutira, all north of Napier, Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Group controller Ian MacDonald told media on Tuesday afternoon.

”We’ve delivered hundreds of Starlink internet connections and over 180 generators to isolated communities as an interim measure.”

Clean-up efforts in the region have also been delivered a setback after rain overnight saw a section of the already damaged Napier-Taupō Rd fall away.

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“Heavy rain this morning which has affected water and the precautionary evacuation of Esk Valley last Friday reminded us that some parts of our region are still vulnerable. And the weather is still impacting on this response,” Macdonald said.

It remained unclear how long it would take to restore access to communities which remained cut off, but supplies would continue as long as they were needed, Macdonald said.

“That’s just the simple answer. We definitely had the Defence Force still here with the NH90s. We have a number of civilian helicopters as well. So as long as we have isolated communities, we will still need helicopters to get supplies in.”

Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazelhurst said a doctor and a nurse had been flown into the isolated community of Patoka, “for medications, prescriptions, anything like that”.

“There are a lot of impacted communities … we’re trying to get to everyone and make sure no one is left behind.”

About 3000 people across Waipawa​ and Ōtāne​ had been reconnected to drinking water but remained on a boil water notice, Central Hawke’s Bay Mayor Alex Walker said.

In an earlier interview, Fire and Emergency district manager Glen Varcoe said any extra rain at this point was bad news.

“The more water we have, the more impact it’s going to have on the roading and the area with slips and trees down.”

He reiterated messages to limit travel wherever possible and avoid any activities which might create risk, such as driving through floodwaters.

The focus remained on keeping communities safe and looking after the welfare of staff who had been affected by the cyclone, Varcoe said.

As an added curveball, Covid-19 was infecting emergency responders with 14 staff testing positive at the end of the day last Saturday, Macdonald said. Staff were wearing masks and testing at the beginning of each day.