By RNZ

Associate Agriculture Minister Meka Whaitiri says Cyclone Hale has taken a mental toll on Tairāwhiti farmers and growers, as they’ve seen too many floods over the years to count.

The government has offered $100,000 towards recovery efforts in Gisborne, including one-on-one mentoring support.

A $150,000 contribution to the Mayoral Relief Fund has also been announced, to help with the clean-up.

Whaitiri - who visited farmers in the region on Friday - said that while some remained buoyant, others were questioning whether they wanted to keep farming.

“There is a sense of exhaustion from recovery to relief and then back into recovery,” she said.

“There’s the physical damage you can see on farms, which over time will get addressed, but I think what I got too was some of the hidden damages in terms of some of the mental stress.”

She said the mental support funding announcement was well received, and the government was ready to contribute further.

Crews worked to restore a cable which was torn from a bridge near Tologa Bay by the swollen Hikuwai River after Cyclone Hale. Photo / Supplied / Chorus

Whaitiri said she was is confident Tairāwhiti farm animals would be well looked after, in the aftermath of Cyclone Hale.

She was assured there are no concerns about feed supplies, and sheep would still be able to get shorn.

 

The internet was cut to between 1200 and 1500 homes when a fibre cable was torn from a bridge near Tolaga Bay. Photo / Supplied / Chorus

Whaitiri said the farmers she spoke to all had contingency plans, which included moving stock to neighbouring farms that still had functioning woolsheds.

Once the state of emergency has been lifted, animal welfare teams will do assessments.

Gisborne Federated Farmers president Toby Williams said the government support was much needed, as even more damage is expected to be uncovered.

“We still haven’t got a full picture, it’s so wet out there that farmers haven’t actually been able to get out there and have a look,” he said.

“But anecdotally, there are some very, very badly affected properties, there’s a lot of forestry slash and timber debris on places that need to be picked up and removed and there’s a lot of fences down.”

Initial assessments show the east coast between between Cooks Beach and Matarangi to be the hardest hit by Cyclone Hale. Photo / Thames-Coromandel Council

Williams said it was hoped that the clean-up can be scaled up early next week, when it stops raining.

Civil Defence in Tairawhiti said significant progress was made over the past 48 hours on restoring roads and communication services.

One of the main concerns was the Tauwharepārae area northwest of Tolaga Bay, where more than 50 people were still without power.

Emergency manager Ben Green said repair crews were working this weekend but some customers could still be without electricity for a few more days.

He said that overall, the region is transitioning into a recovery phase.

Chorus said it would be factoring storm resilience into its future planning after the internet was cut to between 1200 and 1500 homes when a fibre cable was torn from a bridge near Tolaga Bay by the swollen Hikuwai River.

A spokesperson for the telecommunications infrastructure company, Rory O’Sullivan, said internet connections were integral to keeping people connected in emergencies, and for help to be sent to the right places.

“With the way things are going with the extremity and the frequency of extreme weather events like this, the amount of future-proofing that we as a telecommunications provider will have to look at will certainly be part of our future planning, it will simply have to be,” he said.

Internet access was restored after four hours, with homes along the east coast from Tolaga Bay to Potaka affected.

Cyclone Hale also temporarily cut the wheelchair access to a prime spot on Whangamatā Beach.

Massive swells brought by the storm eroded an accessible boardwalk and dislodged a wheelchair mat.

The pins that secured the mat were washed away.

The treasurer of the advocacy group Toes in the Water, Donna Lowrie, said the matting was salvaged and will be reinstalled when the weather settles.

But she said the boardwalk now ended with a drop down to the beach, and that would also need to be rebuilt.

The storm-damaged stretch of State Highway 35 from Uawa Tolaga Bay to Ruatoria will be open during daylight hours from Saturday.

Drivers will be able to use it between 7am and 7pm, and crews will then resume repair work overnight.

Waka Kotahi said more rain could create further instability, and travellers should proceed with caution and expect delay.

• RNZ