Haumoana flood mitigation pump failure frustrates community

Flooded residents in Haumoana believe their properties may have escaped some damage if a flood mitigation pump had been properly manned and not run out of fuel.

Several streets and homes in a low-lying part of the Hawke's Bay village were flooded last Tuesday after rising rivers coincided with high tide.

Haumoana is on the coast between Hastings and Napier near the Tukituki River mouth.

It relies on flood mitigation pumps to keep some low-lying homes dry.

But when power went down last Tuesday, so did the pumps, and a back-up diesel tractor pump, which had been brought in before the cyclone hit, soon ran out of fuel.

A local diesel tractor mechanic, who did not want to be named, said he found the tractor unmanned and empty at the stop bank at the end of Grange Road North about 10am last Tuesday.

When Hawke's Bay Regional Council staff returned, he offered to refuel and help fix the pump, but they declined.

"The mechanic said 'stop'. He said 'don't touch it'."

RNZ understands a similar tractor pump in nearby Clive was manned and fuelled for 12 hours after the storm. Flooded residents were now asking why this was not the case in Haumoana.

The rising river coincided with high tide about lunchtime, flooding several streets and homes, leaving some yellow-stickered.

Parts of Haumoana Coffee cafe were inundated with a metre of water. Owner Matt Goodin said the surrounding streets started flooding about 10am last Tuesday.

"Around about 10.30, it was maybe a foot deep in my backyard, coming up all the roads, coming up the manholes like a water fountain, and then when it was about a half a metre deep, we evacuated," Goodin said.

The water in Dave Frechtling and Kimberley Robertson's home came up to the door handles of their bottom storey. Piles of ruined whiteware, furniture, and gib now lay on the berm.

Frechtling believed extensive damage might have been avoided if the pump had been working and said the regional council should have been better prepared.

"There definitely needs to be a better setup so there is not the failures that happened. So we really need that pump station to be upgraded, I suppose, improved and maintained," he said.

A street over, floodwaters destroyed the contents of James Ostergren's garage and lapped just short of his door. A few hours more of pumping could have made all the difference, Ostergren said.

"Think about the amount of money that the [regional] council spent on things like cycleways and all those things that are amazing and really great for the region, but they're doing all this neat stuff instead of their primary duty of care," he said.

"That's just not acceptable."

The mechanic who offered to help fix the pump said there may have been nothing more the council could have done in this situation.

"The pump couldn't keep up with the volume of water coming, it was coming over the top of the stop bank. It was just too much.

"But hey, if they kept on the pumps earlier ... but you know, they had no diesel here. So what could they do?"

In a statement, Hawke's Bay Regional Council admitted the tractor pump had "refuelling and mechanical issues".

"There was a delay in getting this up and running, and there was inundation from the sea.

"The intensity of Cyclone Gabrielle greatly exceeded our expectations, forecasts and modelling based on the data we had on Monday before the cyclone hit.

"We understand the Haumoana community has frustrations and they want answers to what has occurred. There will be a time to review decisions made before and after the initial states of emergency in coming weeks."

Alerts from the National Emergency Management Agency for 22 February

• Keep up to date with advice from your local CDEM Group or from civildefence.govt.nz
• Floodwaters may be full of sewage, chemicals and other hazardous materials and should be avoided as much as possible
• Floodwater can carry bacteria that can contaminate food
• Protect yourself when cleaning up flood water and mud by wearing a properly fitted P2- or N95-rated mask, goggles, gloves, long pants, long-sleeved shirt, and gumboots or work shoes
• Throw away all food and drinking water that has come in contact with floodwater
• Do not eat garden produce if the soil has been flooded
• In power outages use torches instead of candles, and only use camp cookers and BBQs outdoors.
• Conserve water where you are advised to
• Check the location of pipes and cables before you dig; see Chorus' Before You Dig website and beforeudig.co.nz for all utilities
• The best way to assist in the response is through financial donations and NOT through donated goods.