Te Mata Peak, Hawke's Bay. Photo: Matt Dwen
Hastings businesses have been humming this summer after the devastation wrought by Cyclone Gabrielle left many on the brink, its mayor says.
After a tumultuous 2023, tourists returned to Hawke's Bay in their droves this season which providing a much-needed economic boost, Sandra Hazlehurst told Summer Times.
"It's just been lovely to invite all our visitors back to our region.
"Tourism is our second biggest earner, and all of our venues need support at the moment."
Water park Splash Planet has had record numbers through the gates this summer, and the weather "has certainly turned it on," Hazlehurst said.
Dame Jacinda Ardern and Clarke Gayford married in Hawke's Bay on Saturday. Photo: Supplied / Felicity Jean Photography
And although the region was buzzing to host Dame Jacinda Ardern and Clarke Gayford's nuptials at the weekend, they were not the only ones tying the knot.
"We had a lot of weddings here, I heard 70 people arrived from Melbourne for another wedding, so it's truly a showcase that our region is back open for business."
But there was still a long road to recovery, she said.
"It's just been lovely to invite all our visitors back to our region" - Sandra Hazlehurst
A $60 million ask
There was one big ticket item on Hazlehurst's Christmas wishlist - but she was yet to hear whether it would be granted.
About 650 hectares of land in Hastings and Wairoa was still swamped in silt and debris, and councils asked Prime Minister Christopher Luxon for another $60 million to finish the job when he visited in December.
"We showed him the importance of getting this other 650ha cleared," she said.
"What that does, it provides 1000 jobs if we get that back into fruit production.
"That is export for our economy, and that's what our region's GDP's made up of."
Hastings mayor Sandra Hazlehurst. Photo: RNZ / Tom Kitchin
So far 1.4 million cubic metres had been collected, but that was only 20 percent of what still blanketed the ground, Hazlehurst said.
Good progress was being made in other parts of the recovery, she said.
Buyouts of cyclone-wrecked homes deemed too unsafe to live in were well underway, with 104 homeowners going through that process with councils.
"That process is allowing people to have some certainty and get back on with their lives."
Roads and bridges were slowly being pieced back together, with construction on two major bridge rebuilds at Puketapu and Matapiro due to begin this year.