Craig Little and Sandra Hazlehurst: Wairoa and Hastings mayors on the torrential rain impacting the region

Heavy rain and high tides are set to tear through the East Coast, and locals have been warned to take cover.

States of local emergency continue for the Wairoa District and the Hastings Heretaunga Ward, after torrential rain has closed roads across Hawke's Bay and Tairawhiti.

Wairoa looks to have fared the worst, with 100 homes flooded and 130 people evacuated, and warnings of heavy weather will still apply until 11pm.

Wairoa mayor Craig Little says locals need to stay vigilant. 

"Our high tide comes back at 9pm tonight, and then if the rain doesn't stop and it all comes together - we could have the same effect of what happened this morning."

Hastings mayor Sandra Hazlehurst says 140 families have been asked to leave their home.

"I know there's an inconvenience of being with friends and family for another night, but we are concerned about high tides."

State Highway 2 has reopened between Napier and Wairoa.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good afternoon. Wierua appears to have borne the brunt of
the extreme weather. Today. The town is under a local
state of emergency. At least one hundred and thirty people
have evacuated. Many of the roads into town and now closed.
Craig Little is the mayor of Widawa.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hey, Craig, Hi, how's it going? Heather?

Speaker 3 (00:14):
Good?

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Thank you, Craig. How's it going with you? Are you
guys totally cut off again?

Speaker 3 (00:18):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (00:19):
I totally cut off a highway too to Napier. Look,
it's a bit of a common occurrence, to be quite honestly.
We time it range the road closed, but this time
it's rained bit more so we're not sure when that's
going to open. We've also cut off to State Highway
thirty eight as well as Gustborn. We have been closed off.
We're open at the stage.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
How high did the water GETI?

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Look, it wasn't too high, but it was high enough
to flood about one hundred homes and it's a lot
to do it. It's totally in a different states place
this time than last time. It's out towards the river mouth.
Homes of flood that have never flooded. In Memory, Living
Memory so it's pretty scary.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
And was it the surges that were causing the trouble?

Speaker 2 (00:57):
No, No, we believe there's a combination of the river
mouth and then the sea levels and we'd have to
get to the bottom of us because we can't have
this happen again. You know. Side Lane Gabe was probably
enough for us, and we haven't got over that. We've
still got seventy people out of seventy homes unlived as well,
so we've got a long way to go.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yeah, I mean, jeez, how are you guys feeling Are
you feeling despondent?

Speaker 2 (01:20):
Absolutely, we're devastated, to be quite honest, because you know
there's so many people hurting our community, and honest, we
don't know how we're going to get above this. We've
just gone out to our rate pays last night with
about twenty percent rate increase and that God knows what
it will be now, you know, if we have to
pay for the South Elves.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
Are you through the worst of it weatherwise right now?

Speaker 2 (01:40):
No, we're not. Our high tide comes back at nine
o'clock to night, and then if the rain doesn't stop
and it all comes together, well, we could have the
same effect at what happened this morning. And I'm not
trying to scare people, but we're well and truly monitoring it.
So they've just got to keep watching our Facebook page
and that and we should be able to help them out.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
Craig, thank you very much and go well tonight. That's
Craig Little the wider we're mayor Hastings has also been
hit really hard by the weather. The mayor there, Sandra Hazelhurst,
is with us A Sandra, Hi, Heather, what's the damage
with you guys?

Speaker 3 (02:14):
Well, you know, we stood up our community emergency hub
out at home one last night and from eight o'clock
we had people coming in. There's been about forty four
people that have stayed overnight and have been staying in
the community hub. One hundred and forty families were do
orknocked last night by the police. The high tide once

(02:38):
again is just like wide or is our consun for tonight.
So our state of emergency remains in place and so
does the evacuation notice. So we just want our community
to stay pot and stay where they are. I know
there's an inconvenience of being with friends and family for
another night, but we are concerned about the high tide
at nine pm, and it's you know, we're building back

(03:01):
some of the all of the impacted areas, some of
the breaches through the inundation and the gravel barriers that
protect the community of Harmajuana, and just really nervous that
they haven't there, still vulnerable and we don't know what
this high tide is going to do, so we're just
going to leave that state of emergency in place in
the meantime.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
Sandra, thank you, best of likeck again. Also for you
guys tonight, we'll surely be talking to you again tomorrow.
That Sandra Hazelhurst, the Hastings Mayor.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
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Speaker 1 (03:32):
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