Snapshots of Tauranga #44

On January 21, a humid summer evening, we stood by our large lounge windows, exclaiming that this amount of rain doesn’t feel good and wondering which part of our city would be impacted. We’re accustomed to deluges of rain. There was nothing new there, though that night we felt the dread for no particular reason other than the statistics Metservice warned us that were coming our way.

It was to be one of those scary weather events – 244mm of rain dumped in just 24 hours. Nothing like it before, they said, not since records began more than 100 years ago.

Twenty-four hours later, the sun peeped out, and the red rainfall warning was lifted. I was surveying the damage to some plants in the garden and breathing a sigh of relief, the weather hadn’t completely wiped out the cosmos and tomatoes, the weather was now calm and had completed it’s course.

However, this wasn’t to be.

Our neighbour came to the fence and enquired if I had heard the news. After sharing our mutual disbelief, I went upstairs to tell Les that our plans to visit the beach wouldn’t happen that day.

The Aftermath

At approximately 9.30 am on January 22, part of a sodden hillside (Mauao) yielded; it was literally on the move, groaning, rumbling, sliding, and eventually consuming the back of the Mount camping ground. Six people are dead.  The unprecedented amount of rain not only affected Mount Maunganui but also the Papamoa Hills, where two more lives were claimed.

Surely this is something that happens elsewhere, anywhere but here. Not so, I am reminded. Landslides remain New Zealand’s deadliest natural hazard. Think Cyclone Gabrielle, 800,000 landslides across 100 square kilometres. The evil Gabrielle was the most extreme landslide-triggering event ever recorded globally. So why would I think we’re immune?

This event dominated the news headlines, and while it was a tragic weather event, another community was grappling with yet more damage to its precious land and homes. It was the East Coast of the North Island that was affected, and some places that had been affected by Cyclone Gabrielle. Weeks have gone by, and there is still further progress toward gaining full normality to or from some of the affected, isolated areas.

These stories are obviously not new here nor around the world. It would seem that some of us, if not all of us, need to get our heads around the fact that they are now to be classed as regular weather bombs.

Some will need to rethink where they live. Can they afford not to have insurance? Local councils are deeming many properties “at risk”, creating a major issue when trying to sell.

I feel incredibly sad not only for the lives that are lost in these events, but also for the loss of a lifestyle and their sense of belonging to that whenua/land that many have worked their lives to enjoy and be at peace. On a positive note, many areas of Tauranga are now being utilised more for leisure activities now that Mauao is unusable.

Those who have been fortunate to spend time in these affected areas will have many heartwarming holiday memories, everyday life moments and stories of their physical achievements to share until these places return to “normal” (if at all) as they were before the weather event. We all hope for good endings, and, like all good things, it will take much dialogue, patience, empathy for cultural beliefs, and much more time to heal the soul of our whenua (land) and our people.

Here are a few magic moments of mine

Updates on the process can be viewed via the Tauranga City Council website