Rotorua Lakes Council has spent $8.5 million on emergency weather-related road repairs over the past four years.

Severe weather has twice consumed about a quarter of the district’s annual local road maintenance budget.

Figures provided by the council show emergency works cost $3.5m in 2022/23 and $3.9m in 2023/24, accounting for 25% and 26%, respectively, of the maintenance spend for those periods.

The spending dropped to $400,000 in 2024/25 and is at $700,000 so far in 2025/26.

The earlier spike coincided with a period of severe weather disruption across the North Island, including Cyclone Gabrielle and a series of major storm events that caused widespread slips, flooding and infrastructure damage across many regions.

Among the major repair projects were two underslip repairs on Te Wāerenga Rd costing $1.27m and underslip work on Valley Rd costing $680,000.

A slip blocks part of State Highway 33 near Okere Falls, one of many sites requiring emergency weather-related road repairs in recent years. Photo / Ben Fraser

Repairs to a culvert collapse on Puaiti Rd cost $550,000, while two underslip repair sites on Galatos Rd cost a combined $930,000.

The council also spent $390,000 repairing road-edge erosion on Pongakawa Valley Rd, and the same amount on two separate underslips at Paradise Valley Rd and Puaiti Rd.

Rotorua Lakes Council emergency road repair spending:

• 2022/23: $3.5m (25% of local road maintenance spend)
• 2023/24: $3.9m (26% of local road maintenance spend)
• 2024/25: $400,000 (2.6% of local road maintenance spend)
• 2025/26 (year to date): $700,000 (5% of local road maintenance spend)

Rotorua Lakes Council infrastructure and environment group manager Stavros Michael said weather-related events were difficult to predict and the financial impact could “vary considerably”.

Michael said emergency-related works were absorbed within the council’s wider roading budget rather than funded separately.

“Ultimately, the council would need to make a financial decision whether to include a specific provision in its long-term plan for future emergency works,” he said.

“If included, that budget would need to be sourced from rates, taking into consideration any funding assistance from central government.”

Rotorua Lakes Council infrastructure and environment group manager Stavros Michael in a March 2025 meeting. Photo / Laura Smith

The council said NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi funds 57% of approved emergency works costs, making the overall total cost for the four years closer to $20m.

The council must apply for assistance after each specific weather-related event rather than receiving a fixed annual grant.

Michael said ensuring reliable infrastructure remained a priority for the council, and it was continuing to invest significantly in infrastructure to meet the district’s future needs.

He said the council would also continue working with the Bay of Plenty Regional Council and other territorial authorities to better understand the impacts of severe weather events and how those impacts could be mitigated.

Major individual repair projects:

• Te Wāerenga Rd underslip repairs: $1.27 million
• Galatos Rd underslip repairs (two sites): $930,000 total
• Valley Rd underslip stabilisation: $680,000
• Puaiti Rd culvert collapse repair: $550,000
• Pongakawa Valley Rd edge erosion repairs: $390,000
• Paradise Valley Rd underslip repairs: $390,000
• Puaiti Rd underslip repairs: $390,000

Rotorua’s weather-related repair costs mirror wider infrastructure pressures facing councils across New Zealand amid increasing major storm events, such as Cyclone Gabrielle and Cyclone Vaianu.

A slip covers Te Kopia Rd south of Rotorua after wild weather this year.

In May, the Government announced an additional $219m in funding to help North Island councils complete post-cyclone local road recovery works.

Councils in some of the country’s hardest-hit regions have warned recovery costs are expected to stretch into the hundreds of millions of dollars over several years.

Gisborne District Council has estimated restoring its local roading network to pre-cyclone condition will cost about $465m, while Hastings District Council has estimated cyclone-related transport recovery costs at about $800m.

Mathew Nash is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. He has previously written for SunLive, been a regular contributor to RNZ and was a football reporter in the UK for eight years.

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