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RNZ News
17-07-2025
- Climate
- RNZ News
Hawke's Bay shares cyclone silt, slash lessons with flood-hit Tasman
Mud and silt at Jim Papps home in Dovedale. Photo: Samantha Gee / RNZ The head of the $228 million silt removal programme after Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawke's Bay is drawing "eerie" similarities with Nelson Tasman region, as the flood-hit areas look ahead to their own recovery. Communities across the top of the South Island were facing millions of dollars worth of damage to roading infrastructure, farmland and properties, following the two recent floods that struck the area within a two week period, from late June. Riverside properties in Tasman were grappling with woody debris, silt and waste strewn across their properties. Cyclone Gabrielle smashed Aotearoa in February 2023 with a force of heavy rain which caused flooding damaging infrastructure, properties and land on the North Island's East Coast. Thick silt and upended tractors lie at the front of Pheasant Farm, Esk Valley, in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: RNZ / Jemima Huston Twelve people died during the natural disaster. Large amounts of silt, forestry slash and waste were swept across the whenua, prompting councils across Hawke's Bay to set up an immediate regional taskforce to deal with the material. Shane Fell says the floodwater left more than 500 tonnes of silt on the property. Photo: Supplied Taskforce lead Darren de Klerk said watching the news, there were similar scenes in Tasman as there were in Hawke's Bay and Tairāwhiti following the cyclone. "It's quite an eerie similarity, I think when you look at some of the woody debris and some of the silt and mixed product that we had to deal with," he said. "Obviously, productive land is another similarity in the fact that a lot of the highly productive horticulture and viticulture land has been infected." De Klerk said after an emergency, the early stages of recovery were usually shrouded in uncertainty. "In the early days, anyone dealing with this will find it quite overwhelming," he said. "Firstly, it's just understanding the level of involvement that either Civil Defence or the council has in this recovery." De Klerk said it broke Hawke's Bay up into six zones, triaged properties by severity, and then mapped out sorting and disposal sites, in efforts to "chomp the elephant" one bit at a time. Since its beginning, the team moved more than 2.5 million cubic metres of silt across more than 1100 properties, returning around 7000 hectares of land to productivity. It cleared one million cubic metres of woody debris across the coastline and rivers, and sorted through 12,500 broken orchard and vineyard posts. He said in Hawke's Bay, councils had to "take a leap" to support their communities, before the first round of government funding was announced several months after the event, in May 2023. "Essentially, you don't have a rule book," he said. "From a community point of view, I can guarantee you the people behind the scenes are working as absolutely as hard as they possibly can to find solutions." Photo: RNZ/Samuel Rillstone He said it was working with Tasman officials to share insights and avoid "re-inventing the wheel". "One of the biggest probably learning is just how you manage your contractor army," de Klerk said. "Having a standby list of contractors available, so you're not having to work through the procurement and contracting of suppliers in the heat of the recovery phase. "My thoughts are with them and they'll be trying their absolute best." De Klerk said the work must be methodical, and open communication with locals was vital. He was now working for the Hastings District Council on its ongoing water and roading infrastructure cyclone recovery. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
16-07-2025
- Climate
- RNZ News
Government announces $600k support for flood affected farmers
rural farming 39 minutes ago The Minister of Agriculture and Forestry has announced a half a million dollar support package from government and industry for flood-affected farmers, growers and foresters in the Tasman region. It comes as the district-wide clean up continues, with Mayor Tim King estimating the total repair bill has already exceeded $100 million, alongside a warning more heavy rain is expected in the coming months. Samantha Gee reports.
RNZ News
15-07-2025
- Climate
- RNZ News
Storm damage closes Tasman's Great Taste biking trail until further notice
The Wai-iti River after flooding in the Tasman region in June 2025. Photo: Samantha Gee / RNZ Tasman's Great Taste biking trail has suffered more than $2 million of damage due to flooding and slips from the extreme weather in Nelson-Tasman. The Nelson Tasman Cycle Trails Trust said sections of the trail had been reopened since the first deluge in June , but now those sections have been impacted again following Friday's flooding. "We are dealing with multiple weather events in close succession, which is making it extremely difficult to fully assess the state of the trail, let alone begin repairs in some areas," said trail manager Belinda Crisp. "Safety and access are our top priorities, and in many places the trail is currently unsafe or inaccessible due to slips, flooding, windfall, roading closures and structural issues." The 200 kilometre trail has been closed until further notice as bridges have been washed away , but work is underway to open the safe parts of the path. "There are parts of the trail that have been washed away, and rebuilding them in the same spot may no longer be viable," said Crisp. Crisp said the trail is a lifeline for the local economy, bringing in $34m annually, with many small businesses relying on visitors who come and ride the trail. The trust is currently preparing cost estimates for repair and reconstruction. "We are fortunate that a national fund exists through the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) to support cycle trail recovery after extreme weather events," said trust chair Gillian Wratt. "However, it's still too early to know whether that funding will cover the full cost of the necessary work. "We know how important the trail is to the region - particularly for small and medium tourism-related businesses - and we are committed to having as much of the trail as possible operational by summer. "That said, some sections will require time due to engineering challenges, consenting, or access renegotiations," Wratt said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
04-07-2025
- Climate
- RNZ News
Tasman and Taranaki districts start mammoth clean up
People in the flooded Tasman and Taranaki districts are starting a mammoth clean up, after heavy rain caused widespread flooding and slips to farms and recovery is expected to cost millions. Samantha Gee reports. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
RNZ News
02-07-2025
- Climate
- RNZ News
Weary Tasman residents brace for fresh barrage of rain
Flooding along the Motueka River last week. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee Exhausted residents in the waterlogged Tasman district are on edge as [ they brace for another lashing of heavy rain]. As residents faced a lengthy cleanup, they are now staring down the barrel of another threatening barrage of downpours. An orange rain warning in place for the Tasman District north-west of Motueka began at 3am on Thursday. It forecasts 120 to 150mm of rain, but heavier falls of up to 200mm are possible in localised areas. The warning for the rest of the Nelson-Tasman District south-east of Motueka, and Marlborough north of the Wairau River, expected 80 to 110mm of rain about the Sounds and ranges, and 50 to 80mm elsewhere between 6am and 9pm on Thursday. Fire and Emergency has also deployed several specialist teams to the region, including two specialist water rescue teams and and urban search and rescue unit. Meanwhile, mobile phone companies say all cell services have been restored in the Tasman District . In Tasman, people from the hard hit area of Tapawera gathered in the rugby clubrooms on Wednesday afternoon to hear the latest from Civil Defence officials. It was the second of two community meetings held in the day following an earlier debrief in Wakefield. Nelson Tasman controller Alec Louverdis said rivers were still running high in the already sodden region and heavy rain could present problems. "If you have been affected, the only advice I can give you is that it's likely you will be hit the same," he said. "I'm sorry I'm giving you that bad news, but you may need to self-evacuate and that's probably a prudent approach." Civil Defence warned there was no room for complacency given the existing situation. "This event on its own would probably not be that significant," Louverdis said. "But with the weather we've experienced to date, we need to take a precautionary approach and we're doing that." By Wednesday night, six homes in the Brooklyn area had been evacuated with some staying with friends and family whilst accommodation was provided to others. Farmers already facing a mammoth clean up of destroyed pastures and fencing were on high alert. Wangapeka farmer and Federated Farmers Nelson president Kerry Irvine told RNZ people were nervous about what was to come. "There's definitely some anxiety around. And we get that," he said. "People are pretty concerned about what's coming but you plan for the worst and hope for the best." That apprehension was shared further east around Pigeon Valley, near Wakefield. Louise is the wife of a volunteer firefighter who had worked long hours during last week's weather event. Although their property came through unscathed, she admitted she was uneasy about the next 24 hours. "He was out for 11 hours (on Friday) and even all of [McGazzaland park] was nearly right under," Louise said. "It was quite scary to see that footage from him when he sent it back up home. Hopefully not again this week." Motupiko farmer Julian Raine lost large sections of cropping land to the flood and said some of the damage could have been mitigated. He said the Tasman District Council should be doing more to bolster flood protection for the Motueka River "Very frustrating as a landowner," he said. "TDC [Tasman District council] effectively wasting ratepayers' money by doing a job half-arsed when they should be getting alongside the [New Zealand Transport Agency] and fixing it together." With more bad weather bearing down, he hoped he and other locals were not set for a repeat. "I suppose I'm always positive and I don't think it's going to be anywhere near as what's predicted," Raine said. "But we've got to be cautious and take all actions to protect ourselves, just in case they're right."
