Historic Eskdale church withstands second devastating flood

Friday, 24 February 2023

The historic Eskdale church has withstood its second devastating flood, probably thanks to earthquake-strengthening work that saw it able to cope with 2 metres of rushing water.

The Eskdale War Memorial Church, built in 1920, is located some 300m from the Esk River, which wreaked havoc when it flooded last week.

Chair of the church board Tom Clark, 61, who has been attending services at the church since he was a boy, entered the building for the first time since Cyclone Gabrielle hit on Tuesday.

“It seems to have got through pretty well. The inside should be fine after a bit of a clean-up. Not sure about the grounds. Might be starting from scratch there, I think,” he said.

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* Huripari Gabrielle: Ka hoki te tokorua ngaukino ki te kāinga i Eskdale e pūrongotia ai te ngarohanga

* Cyclone Gabrielle: Search and Rescue teams painstakingly clear each damaged home

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He said there was about 20cm of silt on the floor of the church, but marks on the walls showed the water had been about 2m deep.

The church had withstood the 1931 Hawke’s Bay Earthquake and the catastrophic 1938 Esk Valley flood.

“It was worse in ‘38. The silt was inside up to the bottoms of the windows. They had to dig it all out by hand back then.

“We were lucky this time,” Clark said.

All silt had been removed and just a final clean of the inside was needed, he said.

Clark said earthquake-strengthening work carried out on the church about nine years ago would have made a big difference.

“All the buttresses were replaced, and the tower was strengthened.

“When we took the old buttresses off to do the strengthening there were bits that just disintegrated. This time we used steel and concrete,” he said.

The church’s parish reached from Tutira to Te Pohue and Ahuriri in Napier. Two services were held every month and these were attended by about a dozen people “on a good day”, Clark said.

“It’s been under water, but it’s survived pretty well. We’ll resurrect it. We own a bit of land down the road too, but we’re not sure what the future holds for that yet,” he said.