Source: Radio New Zealand
Floodwaters surround a house in Paeroa, during Cyclone Vaianu. RNZ/ Nick Monro
Thousands of homes are still without power but most are feeling like they dodged a bullet after Cyclone Vaianu swept across much of the country.
All evacuation orders have now been lifted and many communities feel they dodged a bullet with the storm.
However the wet weather isn’t over yet, with heavy rain watches still in place for Northern Taranaki, Waitomo, Taumarunui and Taupō west of the lake.
While in the Bay of Plenty town of Ohope, the cyclone provided an opportunity for local surfer Mathew Barnfield.
“I’m going to head out soon, it’s clean as. Will probably go for a surf now I think.”
It’s a welcome return to normality after the Whakatane area took a direct hit from the cyclone on Sunday.
Large parts of Ohope were evacuated and Barnfield said although he respected the authorities decision, he decided to stay put.
“I made my own call and felt I was going to be safe at home and stay with my house, see how it goes and ride out the storm really,” he said.
Dave and Katrina Madsen also stayed put, they’ve been living in the Coromandel’s Kauaeranga Valley for 35 years and are well used to floods.
“The first one scares ya and the next ten don’t, you just go through the motions,” Dave said.
“It’s not great and you know you’re going to be left with a mess… it’s more the animals you worry about and just making sure they’re out of the flood zone,” Katrina added.
Waves at high tide in Whitianga. RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Over on the East Cape, about 2,750 homes are still without power. Te Araroa Holiday Park owner Bill Martin told RNZ he had fired up the generator.
“We realise we did dodge a bullet, but every dog has its day and our day wasn’t today… but we had our day a couple of months ago.”
The community is still cleaning up from January’s floods and had been feeling anxious about Cyclone Vaianu.
“We were nervous, we were prepared for it and sandbagged… we were lucky, yes,” Martin said.
Down the coast in Ruatoria, Leanne Morice said while the storm wasn’t as bad as forecasted, it was a wild windy night and there were trees and branches strewn across paddocks and roads.
“Like eveyone kept saying, this is not our first rodeo so we’re usually well and truly prepared and this seemed to be case this time as well,” Morice said.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Earlier, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told Morning Report that parts of State Highway 35 on the East Cape is moving into the ocean and it might be time for some residents to consider relocating.
“SH35 has really disparate and isolated communities, they are having conversations within those iwi to say ‘look this is the 7th or 8th time we’ve been smashed by these sort of events and maybe we need to have some braver conversations about where we might relocate to’,” said Luxon.
Gisborne’s mayor Rehette Stolz told RNZ that Luxon’s comments came as a surprise and she’ll be talking to iwi about it.
Stolz said there hasn’t been enough investment over the years into roads like State Highway 35, and although she knows the Government has a limited pot of money, there is always talk of ‘roads of national significance’.
“And I appreciate that, but I do think we need to make sure our rural lifelines also get the investment so they can keep on contributing to this nation’s economy,” she said.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
