Staff on Gisborne road cordons after Tolaga Bay storm were physically threatened by log truck drivers
Monday, 30 July 2018
Staff manning cordons on roads following the Tolaga Bay storm were verbally abused and physically threatened by logging truck drivers.
The Gisborne district was hit by two major rain events in June. The event on June 4 caused flooding and erosion and forced the evacuation of people in the Tolaga Bay area, while an event on June 11 was more widespread and closed SH2 between Gisborne and Opotiki.
In a paper before Gisborne District Council this week, roading manager Dave Hadfield said it became obvious after the first event that forestry and truck operators were still working in some forests in the area. The council decided to pre-emptively close some undamaged roads to prevent further damage.
Hadfield said the forestry industry was affected by this, and while it was not a popular decision, industry members appeared to understand why it was necessary.
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But when the second event hit a week later the roads were badly damaged and had to be closed for much longer than expected.
Hadfield said log truck drivers started ignoring road closures with 'lots of reports of trucks driving on the roads that were closed in the early hours of the morning'.
This meant security guards had to be hired to man the check points and cordons to allow only approved people past.
This led to some 'difficult discussions' and police had to be called in.
'Staff at the cordons were abused and on two occasions threatened physically,' Hadfield said.
'Some drivers just would not stop for security personnel. Vehicle registration numbers have been taken recorded and follow up work is taking place to talk to these people,' he said.
He said the experience showed that in any future events the decision to man road blocks from the outset should be taken as soon as the roads were closed.
The response and clean-up cost to the council for damage to roads is estimated to by $2.4million but may rise. This is included in the estimated overall, public and private, cost of $10m for the clean-up.
Much of that was caused by forest debris, or 'slash', that was washed off the hills, covering farmland, damaging roads and bridges, and causing rivers and streams to block and flood.
Last month it was revealed that the council was warned in a report late last year that forestry debris was likely to cause huge damage in another big storm.
The report, written following the impact of Cyclone Cook and Cyclone Debbie in April last year, found slash piles were routinely stored on flood plains and future downpours would cause risk for buildings and infrastructure.
The report recommended the practice of storing slash on flood plains was discontinued, and existing areas of slash storage on flood plains are assessed by forestry companies and measures put in place to ensure that the slash is either removed or protected from mobilisation.
It also recommended the council worked closely with the Environmental Focus Group to ensure environmental guidelines, and procedures were fit for purpose.
Gisborne Mayor Meng Foon said the council had already undertaken work to improve forestry monitoring.
He said 'ads in the paper' were finding more people to do the work, and newly bought drones would be flying over to monitor the situation so 'we can enforce the resource consent conditions'.
Foon said the forestry sector would support the cleanup, but ratepayers would have to help pay.