Coromandel keen to help fellow Cyclone Gabrielle casualties
Friday, 17 February 2023
The Coromandel is amidst their own clean-up from Cyclone Gabrielle, however mayor Len Salt is offering to help those worse off than his own.
The Thames-Coromandel District mayor said their thoughts are with people of Tairāwhiti, Wairoa, Gisborne, Napier and Hastings with their communities having been destroyed by the cyclone.
He’s keen to touch base and offer his district’s help, and while he expects the National State of Emergency would mean they’re resourced reasonably well, he’s thinking more of the aftermath.
”I am thinking we are looking at 10,000 homeless people, who have lost their homes and in the short to medium term there are going to have to be solutions about what they can do.
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**
“I know when we had our own emergency we had people reaching out, and saying if we can help we’ve got a spare room, we’ve got some accommodation available. If there is something we can offer along those lines then we would like to do that.”
Salt said the cleanup in the Coromandel is going well after they suffered flooding and numerous slips earlier in the week due to Cyclone Gabrielle.
“The challenge we have now is we have been doing this for six weeks, we’ve been cleaning up after storm, after storm, after storm.”
And therefore Salt wants to have an urgent long term conversation with the government about building resilience into his district with the roading network and infrastructure.
“It really goes to the heart of the economic and social well-being of our community. We can’t keep patching up again, again and again. Those days are gone, we’ve got to build long term resilience into our district, so people can have certainty over homes and jobs and access to medical services.”
His concern is about the number of reforms coming down and the speed and pace of them.
“For example we would like to see the government park the RMA reforms for now and bring forward the climate adaptation bill, which they’ve basically shunted over to next year.
“We think that is more urgent, as we are talking to people with houses on the coastline, and we don’t have any answers for them.”
Access to the Coromandel is improving daily and Salt said a loop road is now open.
“So from Thames, to Coromandel, SH25 right down through Whitianga and Whangamatā that is open, but people still need to exercise caution.”
He said police have been called a few times to where road crews have been working to pacify motorists stuck at various closures.
“Sometimes people struggle to understand when they see a pathway and think they can go through. They struggle to understand the crews might be working in a dangerous environment. We’ve had a couple instances where they've cleared the slip and another one has come down 30 minutes later.”
“Our people have had six weeks of this non-stop and there is a level of tiredness and frustration.”
For civil defence controller Garry Towler he’s starting to see a “heartbeat back on the Coromandel.”
The already saturated region avoided Thursday night’s thunderstorms that were forecast for large portions of the North Island.
“We stayed intact, and people are out and about.”
He said that people were taking advantage of the fine weather to get on with the large cleanup and getting rid of the debris.
Thames-Coromandel District Council have confirmed homeowners who have had their homes red-stickered will automatically get a rates' remission.
As of Thursday morning there were six red-stickered and not safe to inhabit properties and another 12 being monitored.
The council has said they’re doing all they can to help property-owners whose homes have been badly damaged by Cyclone Gabrielle.
Those houses which have been badly affected will be granted a rates remission, which is usually something homeowners need to apply for.
However, the council is granting it for all those properties which have been officially marked as uninhabitable.
There is also an extension for ratepayers due to weather-related obstacles in delivering rates notices and difficulty for people to make payments with power and road disruptions. Rates now have to be paid by March 15, 2023.
The council said their kerbside rubbish collections are back, and most of the refuse transfer stations are open.
Old sandbags can be taken to the transfer stations. But don’t put them in the general refuse pit.
“Ask at the entry kiosk for where they are being stored for potential reuse by roading crews.”
“There is light at the end of this tunnel, but we are not there yet,” Towler said.
“While it is tempting to get out and about and see what has happened, the entire Coromandel is still fragile so take care and keep up to date and informed.”