Residents of a small East Coast town are still feeling the pinch from extreme weather in March, with some locked out of homes that have been red-stickered for months.
Merle Pewhairangi at her Arthur Street home in Tokomaru Bay, which she hasn’t been able to live in since March 2022. Photo: Gisborne Herald / Liam Clayton via LDR
Gisborne District Council said six homes were red-stickered following the three-day rain event in Tairāwhiti. Only one of those stickers had been removed in the months following.
On Arthur Street, an area prone to flooding, 84-year-old Merle Pewhairangi just wants to get back into her home.
Following a dramatic rescue by daughter Cara-Lee Pewhairangi-Lawton on the night of 22 March 2022, Merle has been living with her other daughter in a rental down the street while she waits for work to be completed on her place.
Pewhairangi-Lawton said the ordeal had taken a significant mental toll on her mother, who lived with dementia.
"Being displaced has really deteriorated the situation. The confusion is daily. It's really quite bad now," she said.
"For us as a whānau, we just want her to have her own home.
"We take her there now but she doesn't want to be there because of the state of the grounds."
The dwelling was stickered by a council employee in the week following the flooding.
While the family agrees the house needs significant work completed, they are disappointed with the way the district council went about the process and the level of support they have received since.
Civil Defence coordinator Lillian Te Hau-Ward with Merle Pewhairangi and daughter Cara-Lee Pewhairangi-Lawton outside the Arthur Street address. Photo: Gisborne Herald / Liam Clayton via LDR
Civil defence coordinator Lillian Te Hau-Ward said many of the community were organising response efforts and sharing kai at the rugby clubrooms the day the council administered red stickers.
Pewhairangi-Lawton's daughter and nephew were at the house when the sticker went on and the inspector - who they say did not introduce themselves - told them they had to leave within 24 hours, Te Hau-Ward said.
When Pewhairangi-Lawton tried to get more information on what was required for the red notice to be removed, it took over a month for the council to inform her.
Even then they let her know indirectly by writing what was required (silt removal and work on the septic tank) on the label they had left on the house.
"I go back to the property a month later and there's Sharpie writing on the red sticker saying what needs to be done to fix the house.
"No inspection was done, just guesswork."
Pewhairangi-Lawton said the septic tank work and silt removal had finally been completed, almost four months on, and they were now waiting on council to complete another inspection.
Meanwhile, Te Hau-Ward questions if that work should have rested solely on the heads of those affected, pointing out many are still trying to pick themselves up from the last severe weather event in June 2021.
"We need a coordinated effort with silt removal so our whānau can get their lives back on track."
Merle Pewhairangi’s whānau are unsure when she will be able to return to her flood-damaged home at Tokomaru Bay. The house was red-stickered not long after the March 2022 flooding. Photo: Gisborne Herald / Liam Clayton via LDR
A Gisborne District Council spokesperson said the council acknowledged owners were not given adequate information for the red notices but that the issue was resolved at a meeting with residents in April.
Red stickers were administered to keep people safe if a property was deemed uninhabitable.
"Our building team has been working closely with owners since this event and continue to provide help to a number of residents to support the requests from insurance companies, including for example, requests for testing moisture levels," a spokesperson said.
A number of affected residents had accessed the Mayoral Relief Fund and the council was coordinating with multiple agencies, including the Ministry of Social Development, Ministry for Primary Industries and Enhanced Taskforce Green.
On a brisk morning in Tokomaru Bay, Merle Pewhairangi can be seen slowly making her way down the broken footpath to her home, where the door remains locked and the curtains pulled.
A once beautiful lawn is now a depressing mixture of mud and debris.
The only visits the place gets these days are to air it out and feed the cat, Puss, who can be seen perched on the porch.
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