Funding has been granted for a new plan to protect a huge Hawke’s Bay business from flooding and move the community’s homes around it out of post-cyclone limbo. 

The plan will protect Pan Pac Forest Products’ mill at Whirinaki, and see 46 homes which were inundated by water as Cyclone Gabrielle hit on February 14, 2023, move from Category 2C to Category 1. 

Whirinaki residents have fought long and hard for their community. More than a year ago one couple even installed a seat outside their home with two skeletons sitting on it and a sign that read “waiting on decisions”. 

HBRC said in January its initial flood resilience project, which included raising and strengthening stopbanks and raising a section of State Highway 2, and upgrading its culverts, was facing a large funding shortfall. The project was needed to move the community’s post-cyclone Category 2C properties into Category 1 and was expected to be funded through Transport Rebuild East Coast (TREC). But a significant reduction to TREC’s budget meant the funding was no longer available for it, leaving HBRC to again petition the Government for funding. 

Now central Government has agreed to redirect an additional $9 million and Regional Council has committed a further $3 million, after a change of design. It will allow the on-hold project to go ahead. 

HBRC chair Hinewai Ormsby said it marked a significant milestone for the Whirinaki community and residents who had faced considerable uncertainty.  “The funding commitments from our council and Central Government demonstrate our shared belief in the project’s benefits for impacted property owners. Most importantly, it will help them move forward with their lives.” 

Pan Pac Forest Products general manager Tony Clifford said he was delighted, and it would provide confidence that its site is durable.  “I couldn’t ask our employees to go through the aftermath of a cyclone again,” Clifford said. 

A spokesperson for HBRC said over the past six months, it explored options to reduce the project’s costs. “The updated alignment still includes raising State Highway 2 and stopbanks from the highway to the coast to provide flood mitigation to Category 2C areas. The raising of SH2 is now more modest due to the revised location being at a higher elevation. The works still include upgrades to the existing stopbank around Pan Pac Forest Products to protect the industrial area, but due to the new alignment being further north it removes the need to upgrade the Whirinaki Drain culvert under SH2.”   

HBRC councillor Martin Williams said the project was “mission critical”, not just for the Whirinaki communities it would better protect, but for the Hawke’s Bay economy. “The Pan Pac Pulpmill, one of the region’s biggest employers, was severely impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle. With rising electricity and insurance costs and a highly volatile export market, I doubt the mill would survive another cyclone without this stopbank project. Simply put, this project is in the ‘too important to fail’ category.”  

Clifford said they were right behind the council plan. “It’s hard to say what any future weather event would look like but if we haven’t done our utmost to prepare and protect any investor would be saying what’s the point,” he said. He said Pan Pac was back running at 95% after the rebuild. 

He said along with the stopbank, the management of the river mouth was a critical part of future flood protection. “We need both and HBRC has taken steps in the right direction by installing a river level monitor and cameras. “It means all that work that went into the rebuild will not be wasted. “We will be doing whatever we can to support council including supplying fill from our quarries for use on the stopbanks.” 

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

Photo / Warren Buckland