Iwi rally as whānau cope with the aftermath of Cyclone Hale

Wednesday, 11 January 2023

The Tūranganui River was high in Gisborne on Wednesday morning after Cyclone Hale drenched the region overnight.

Marae are mobilising after Cyclone Hale tore through bridges and cut off communities across the North Island’s East Coast.

Iwi, hapū and marae are helping with evacuations and distributing welfare to whānau across the worst-hit areas of Tairāwhiti after a state of emergency was declared on Wednesday morning.

So far, more than 1500 households have lost power and 20 families have been evacuated.

Emergency services have been assessing the damage to the region, with Civil Defence urging communities to self-report conditions as authorities may have difficulty reaching some areas.

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Rina Kerekere, a trustee at Te Rawheoro Marae in Tolaga Bay Uawa, said many marae in Uawa had been impacted.

“We’re doing as best as we can, but there is a lot of cleanup right now at the moment, at both homes and right throughout the community,” she said.

“We still have a lot of whānau who have Covid at the moment.

“Our team were out late last night taking supplies and helping those ones who needed to evacuate who have Covid, so it’s high anxiety especially for those who have Covid and have to evacuate.”

Whareponga Bridge, near Ruatōria, has been washed away in the flooding.

Te Rawheoro Marae has toilet, shower and cooking facilities that are open to people in the community.

“All our trustees have been going out just contacting who needs help, who needs the marae, just so they can have a shower,” Kerekere said.

“Not have to worry about cleaning up home right now, and go and have a warm cup of tea, help themselves, and have the marae available if they need it.”

Kemara Keelan, Te Puni Kōkiri’s acting regional director for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti, said marae had been instrumental in ensuring whānau could be reached.

“Marae have been a huge benefit to this current situation. In Tikitiki, just north of Ruatōria, 20 whānau have been evacuated to stay at the marae overnight,” Keelan said.

“Other marae have been opened for that specific purpose across the coast as well. It’s been a vital lifeline in regards to evacuating whānau so they feel safe and in a place together.”

Keelan had been in hui with iwi, Civil Defence and other organisations on Wednesday morning, trying to ascertain the damage and welfare needs for whānau, but with roads blocked, bridges torn away, and disrupted internet and electricity cutting off connection, it was unclear how many people were in need of a lifeline.

Cyclone Hale forced the Mercury Bay Boating Club to decide whether to put in unapproved weather protection or obey the law and risk losing the building, commodore Jonathan Kline said. Video first published January 11 2023.

“When we talk about isolation from an East Coast perspective, they're out in the wopwops and its non-tar sealed roads, and some of these villages are off the grid.

“Whareponga, a small village, being one of those – there’s no power – but they’re all on generators so they’re probably better prepared than anyone.

“The bridge going down is a problem getting the kai and that sort of thing, so it’s a priority at the moment, but all those tools you have available to you in the city, they’re not accessible in these rural areas.”

Colene Herbert, CCS Disability Action’s Midland’s general manager and secretary for Mangahanea Marae in Ruatōria, said her team had been in contact with whānau across the coast 48 hours ahead of the cyclone to ensure they were prepared.

While some were frightened and had been cut off by slips, all were safe and were being cared for, she said.

“These are regular events now, they’re not just one every 20 years,” Herbert said.

“We have provisions in place to support our disabled people for whatever supplies that they need, whether it be medical or kai. We don’t worry about who’s going to pay for it.”

Jody Toroa, a trustee at Rangiwaho Marae in Gisborne, said weather events like this just “create chaos”.

”When you get heavy weather events like we’ve just had, there’s a lot of the offcuts from pine harvest that actually come down the waterways and end up in the moana,” she said.

“That’s going to be a major clean-up issue for the whole region.”

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Toroa said wastewater being released into the waterways was another issue the city faces.

“There’s health effects ongoing from that. We’re a region where a lot of people are in the water, waka ama and surfing … goes without saying there’ll be a rahui for about a week or two.”

She said she was more concerned for whānau up the coast.

“They just get decimated any time there’s heavy rain. Be it their roads, their creeks, their water systems.”