One of the slips blocking State Highway 2 through Waioeka Gorge. Photo: Supplied
As work begins to clear extensive slips through the Waioeka Gorge on State Highway 2, Ōpōtiki District Council's Civil Defence welfare team still have their hands full providing support to isolated residents.
Ōpōtiki Mayor David Moore said he was relieved that there were no serious injuries during Friday's event, when more than 40 trapped motorists had to be airlifted out of the gorge.
Up to 40 slips blocked 60 kilometres of the state highway after the area received double its average January rainfall - about 322mm - over 48 hours, turning gullies into waterfalls, overwhelming and blocking culverts and triggering widespread debris flows across the road.
"The police did a fantastic job on Friday, with help from the New Zealand Air Force and several local helicopter pilots ferrying people out," Moore said.
"It's just so lucky no one was hurt. It could have been so much worse. People's safety is more important than anything else."
He said there had been little need for emergency accommodation.
"I believe there was one group that was housed for the night in Ōpōtiki, but everyone else had arranged accommodation for themselves."
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi had already moved over 50 truckloads of slip material from both the Ōpōtiki and Gisborne ends of the gorge by Tuesday morning, but said they were expecting the closure to remain in place for at least a month.
Moore said the priority now was to regain access for the people living in the gorge so they could get in and out safely.
"There are a few people who will need to come out and there's a few people who will need to get back in. The teams from Civil Defence are working with the welfare side of things."
One of the slips blocking State Highway 2 through Waioeka Gorge. Photo: Supplied
East Coast MP Dana Kirkpatrick said she had spent much of the weekend getting in touch with the people still in the gorge.
While the area was sparsely populated, she said there were three or four families at Wairata, 11 people at Oponae, about four people at the Mananuku Campsite and "a few other people dotted around".
She said some people at the campground stayed on as they had campervans.
"They are okay and chose to stay," she said.
"The people in the gorge are in good heart. They're used to being self-sufficient. They're resilient. But if it goes on for a number of weeks they're going to need some supplies and some support. So we're just making sure that's been put in place.
"Opotiki [District Council] will be the lead just to make sure those people have a point of contact. It's a very unique situation because it's not an emergency in terms of Civil Defence. In a Civil Defence emergency, welfare would automatically kick in. The council have agreed to pick that up."
She described the gorge road as a "critical lifeline for the many growers in Gisborne district who used it to get their goods to market, particularly at this time of year".
"It's really critical and that has been stressed to Waka Kotahi in my conversations with them."
Alternate routes via SH35 around the East Cape and SH5 add several hours' travel.
Moore said this incident highlighted the importance of having alternate routes available. He warned SH38 between Waikarimoana and Wairoa was closed at night at the moment.
"Another complication is the old Motu Road being closed."
The unsealed road, which was formerly the main route to Gisborne, had been closed since mid-November.
"[That fix] is going to be major. That is not a slip. The road is completely gone. That's something we may need to get some assistance with.
"Although it's a local road, it would also help with the national state highway system. It adds about another 40 minutes onto your trip and is not ideal for truck-and-trailers, but it certainly would have been a lot quicker than going all the way around the coast, which is about a five-hour trip."
He warned people using SH35 to take their time and be safe on the road and drive safely.
Kirkpatrick said there had been some issues around communicating quickly across regions as the gorge fell between two police regions, two council regions and two NZTA regions.
"There were some huge challenges with the lack of comms and the dark. There will be a debrief and review of the situation. I am at the moment collating some of the key points which I will be sending to Waka Kotahi and police."
- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
