The full extent of Napier's flood and slip damage should be known by midday tomorrow, Fire and Emergency says.
A house on Shakespeare Ave. Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas
As of 4pm today, 383 property assessments had been carried out and 67 homes had been deemed unfit to live, including 22 severely damaged
At a news conference this afternoon, Hawke's Bay Civil Defence said it had only been able to access some properties for the first time today.
All damaged properties would be inspected by midday tomorrow, but it could take longer to know how many can be salvaged, FENZ Hawke's Bay area commander Ken Cooper said.
"Thirty uninhabitable houses are on or around Napier Hill and 37 are in Marewa, Maraenui and Pirimai," he said.
About 47 families evacuated from their homes were staying at an evacuation centre at Kennedy Park. Bookings by holidaymakers were being cancelled to ensure they could stay as long as needed, Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise said.
"I want to reassure everybody, we will not be displacing anybody from Kennedy Park until they have somewhere to go."
Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise. Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas
Four days after Monday's record deluge, causing slips and floods across the city, the scale of the damage was still unclear.
Wise said agencies were still gathering all the information together and welfare checks with families in the worst affected areas were still being carried out.
The number of families needing accommodation was expected to rise.
There were concerns some families who self-evacuated may not be aware help was available, Wise said.
She urged them to get in touch with council or social agencies.
Slips at Brewster St. Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas
Ngāti Kahungunu representative Hori Reti said iwi were also carrying out welfare checks to build up a picture of who needed help.
In the meantime, a food hub was being set up at Greenmeadows Hall to help those in immediate need.
Meanwhile, the Hawke's Bay District Health Board said residents with flood-damaged homes were at risk from getting ill from mould if properties were not cleaned and dried properly.
As the clean up continued the Insurance Council, which represented insurance companies, said it would not know how much the repair bill might be for at least another six weeks.