Rawinia Anderson has mixed feelings to her yellow-stickered family home. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
A public meeting organised for Hawke’s Bay residents affected by Cyclone Gabrielle showed the utter frustration people are feeling, its organiser said.
Residents from the cyclone-devastated Esk Valley met at the weekend, talking about the lack of progress eight weeks on from the extreme weather event.
They remain concerned about the levels of crime in the region, however new Police Minister Ginny Andersen did not attend despite receiving an invitation.
Whirinaki resident and meeting organiser Louise Parsons told Checkpoint it was getting to the point of “utter frustration”.
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People were tired and getting a bit angry, Parsons said.
Looting was a serious problem, including in nearby Pakowhai which was also hard hit by the cyclone.
Parsons said she had a friend who lived in the area who had had tyres stolen from two cars at her flood-damaged property.
The night before the public meeting, Parsons said people came back and vandalised one of the cars.
She said she was also aware of other people having had their possessions stolen while they were out on the street as people worked to salvage what they could.
“It’s their life, their memories, their life out on the street,” she told Checkpoint.
“I liken it to vultures picking the bones off a corpse. Have some compassion.”
Parsons gave “kudos” to former police minister Stuart Nash who turned up for the meeting – but she said more needed to be done to make residents feels like their concerns were being taken seriously.
She wanted more of a police presence to comfort people and believed the army should also be in the region, helping with the clean-up and preventing people from going to flood-damaged areas where no one needed to be.
“It would help people to feel safer. They would be able to sleep at night knowing there was some security out there,” Parsons said.
In a social media post on Saturday, Nash said he had been in Esk Valley speaking to a couple who were affected by the cyclone.
Nash said the Extreme Weather Recovery Committee would meet on 5 April to start making decisions about communities damaged by the cyclone.
“Any decision will be based on evidence and facts and in consultation with residents of the impacted communities. I will keep people updated on progress and further timelines as I understand certainty is invaluable in allowing people to make informed decisions.
“In many cases, the decisions to be made and conversations that have to be had are incredibly complex and difficult, however, I am very aware that we must get this right. The work going into advice on this is comprehensive as any decision must be transparent and stand up to scrutiny.”