Wairoa floods: mayor pushes for inquiry

From Nine To Noon, 9:05 am on 19 April 2023
Wairoa from the air on 14 February 2023 as it was hit by Cyclone Gabrielle.

Photo: Supplied / Wairoa District Council

A month after the Wairoa mayor Craig Little asked the Hawkes Bay Regional Council to launch an inquiry into the February floods he's still waiting for an official response.

Up to 400 homes on the north side of the town were inundated when the Wairoa River broke its banks during Cyclone Gabrielle.

Some residents remain out of their homes.

Mr Little says frustration is growing in the community over exactly what caused such a devastating event.

In a letter to the Council last month he raised a raft of issues which he wants urgently investigated, including the role Genesis Energy may have played and the impact of forestry slash.

He tells Kathryn the reasons for the flood need to be identified so history doesn't repeat.