A survey of farmers affected by the flooding in Gisborne and Wairoa earlier this year shows just how big the clean-up job is.
Wairoa farmland is flooded after ex-cyclone Fili hit in April 2022. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
On 23 March, torrential rain caused flooding across the East Cape and Hawke's Bay, more than 750 homes were without power and the Hikuwai River had risen more than 12 metres.
Nearly 50 local roads were closed, infrastructure was damaged and farmland was left underwater.
Less than two weeks later ex-tropical cyclone Fili reached New Zealand, with the brunt of the force hitting the already damaged East Cape, Gisborne, and Hawke's Bay areas.
The second bout of weather created further widespread damage with high river levels causing more flooding, erosion of river and stream banks, breaching of stop banks and damage or destruction of flood gates.
Federated Farmers conducted a survey of 251 local farms on behalf of the Gisborne and Wairoa District Councils to get a better understanding of the damage and recovery and has just released the Gisborne and Wairoa Flood Recovery Assessment.
It found the estimated damage for the properties surveyed was $11 million but almost half the respondents felt they would have no insurance cover and it was estimated that of the damage only 11.9 percent would be met by insurance proceeds, leaving a significant need for properties to recapitalise and recover.
Of the affected properties, 20 percent expressed concerns about their long-term income.
"We know that these properties alone were anticipating a $5m reduction in revenue from the impact of the event. With the need to fund uninsured losses on the back of reduced income, there will be challenging times ahead for the local community," the report said.
The report included feedback from farmers which shows how badly affected some properties were and the lasting impact of the weather events.
"We had 30 head of breeding cows plus bulls lost down the river. We have no insurance cover. Hopefully the grass should come through the silt," one farmer said.
"The orchard got waterlogged again in the second storm, 300 apple trees were blown over, and many of the apples fell on the ground. We had to keep picking, so the machinery has left huge tracks in the wet ground which created more issues. We are now having to put in extra posts to help support the remaining trees, plus have to replace the 300 trees lost, we didn't have crop insurance as it was too expensive.
"The power was out for five days, we lost all the meat in our freezers. Generators and a sparky were flown in and hooked up to mains. We flew in food and fencing gear."
Scale of impact
Of the 251 rural respondents:
- 71 percent were on sheep and beef properties and 12 percent 'lifestyle'
- 64 percent stated they had moderate or greater damage to property
- 88 percent of respondents had additional support from family, staff, or neighbours reported that average rainfall was 646ml, with 1300ml recorded on a single Wairoa property
- 78 percent sustained damage to fencing, with 158 of these properties reporting an average 1.7km of fence loss
- 27 percent stated they had at least one boundary fences that was currently not stock proofed at the time they were surveyed, with and average 700m
- 48 properties will need machinery to stock proof boundary fences
needing to be built or improved for stock proofing