Source: Radio New Zealand
Aerial view of Whirinaki and State Highway 12 after the March storm. Supplied / FNDC
The small Northland settlement of Whirinaki is again bracing for the arrival of wild weather, only a couple of weeks after heavy rain and wind devastated parts of the region.
Cyclone Vaianu is set to touchdown in Northland this weekend, with authorities across the North Island preparing to withstand the potentially life-threatening storm.
The Hokianga area – located on Northland’s west coast – was hit particularly hard by heavy rain and wind that struck the region in late March.
Whirinaki Trust chair Ruth Tautari has been organising the recovery effort for her community, told RNZ a number of evacuation centres were being stood up around Hokianga.
“We’ve just been going around Whirinaki, just giving everyone an update on the storm itself… just making sure that they are prepared, whether they have water in their tanks, making sure they’ve got the essentials they need to keep them going in the event that we get cut off for a couple of days with no power and no roading.” she said.
Tautari said many whānau were still dealing with the affects of recent flooding leaving them feeling “anxious”.
“We had six homes that were completely lost… the water went through and those whānau had to evacuate. We’ve got three whanau that are currently in temporary accommodation and the other three whānau are living with their whānau all outside of Whirinaki at the moment.” she said.
A family shovelling silt off their Whirinaki property following the March storm. Supplied / FNDC
“The rest of the whānau in Whirinaki, they’ve just been going through re-establishing their access ways like roading, their sanitation, their septic tanks and removing all of the rubbish that got pushed down into their whare and just trying to get back to some sense of normal reality.”
As the cyclone bears down, a series of service hubs – called Rai ki te Rai – have been set up across the North. Tautari said welfare agencies and hauora organisations would be present.
“We’ve also got some of the teams from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development to at their temporary accommodation services that they provide, but also a lot of mahi from the civil defence teams from Northland Regional Council and the whānau Far North District Council are coming up.”
“It’s quite heartbreaking to watch whānau go through it over again and just watch the stress come when the rain gets heavier, knowing that they could have to move from their whare but also that they could have to go through the whole situation again, removing silt, waters going through our marae and just the toll it takes, not just physically, but a lot of mental and emotional tolls.” she said.
Former Ngāti Hine Forestry Trustchief executive and Green MP Hūhana Lyndon has been up North helping with the recovery effort. She told RNZ that the region now had to quickly switch it’s focus from recovery to readiness.
“The weather is comparable to Cyclone Gabrielle and touch down as early as lunchtime Saturday, whānau are now gearing up to brace and prepare for impact.” she said.
“We already have a stressed rohe or district from the last storm, it’s not an easy time”
Lyndon said she was in regular touch with local and central government, as well as marae and community members.
“There’s been a lot more response and pace by which people are moving now that we know that it’s coming, and the size and scale of what it could be.” she said.
“We’ve gone through Cyclone Gabriel, we’ve seen it, we’ve recovered from it. But it’s coming again, and it’s coming with significant impacts to Northland.”
Lyndon said marae were key parts of the region’s resilience infrastructure and should be resourced properly.
“We don’t have solar, we’ve got gaps in generators, we’ve got whānau who are cut off. They cannot get across to their home, and culverts are out. We need, sparkies, we need to be checking that are waterlocked… we are getting there, but unfortunately we’ve got a storm coming so it’s a bit of recovery as well as preparedness that’s going on right now.” Lyndon said.
Cyclone Vaianu is expected to reach Northland late on Saturday night.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
