Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
A hard-hit west Auckland community is split over whether road access should be reinstated to visitors in time for Easter.
Piha has been grappling with the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle.
Roads are closed and homes have had to be abandoned.
Eight weeks on from the storm, and Cyclone Gabrielle's footprint is still on full display.
With roadworks and red stickered houses lining the streets, residents are saying there was work to be done across town.
While some were wanting to ease restrictions to the settlement, there are those who think it's still too soon
Piha Surf School founder Phil Wallis said it was too early to be welcoming people back.
"The council have been tied up doing so many different things that they haven't even got to repair so much of the damage here," he said.
Despite desperately wanting to get back to business, Wallis said he could not see how the community could handle visitors at this time.
Not only this, but security and the threat of looters were still on everyone's mind.
"Having all these empty houses, we're still on the back end of a disaster, and my big question is 'what's going to happen come night time'," he said.
Wallis said council should be listening to the experts when deciding how long to keep restrictions in place.
"We've got a lot of hysteria happening on Facebook, because a lot of people think that's the only place they can vent their opinions, but Facebook doesn't deal with the logistics, it's got to be left to the experts."
That was something West Auckland Councillor Shane Henderson was making sure of.
He said he was following the advice of transport and geotechnical engineers around when it would be safe for visitors to return to Piha.
"There's a time for politics and a time where we rely on the engineers and the people to tell us whether it's safe to encourage people back in," he said.
Henderson said while geotechnical engineers waited to receive more data, restrictions would remain in place.
The council will reassess the restrictions after Easter.
The owner of the Piha Campground, Fiona Anderson Photo: RNZ / Anusha Bradley
But business owners like Fiona Anderson from the Piha Camp Ground said they could not cope much longer without customers.
"Businesses out there are all slowly going broke, and I understand that they need the business, but I think it would be a mistake to just go open slather," she said.
Anderson said she had not been given the all clear to open the camp ground to guests yet, and had lost around 100 bookings from customers tired of waiting.
She said there was still so much uncertainty around how long it would be before people come back.
"We have to sit and wait, and calm down, but in the meantime, I'd certainly like some certainty about when I can earn money again, I've had eight weeks with no income," she said.
Police have said they were committed to ongoing reassurance patrols across the Piha and neighbouring Karekare communities.
This would continue over Easter Weekend, a statement added.
