Those tasked with the recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle are forecasting a bill of $96 million but the question for many is: Will the Government pay the total or will ratepayers have to come up with some funding?

Andrew Desmond, from Tararua Alliance, spoke to Dannevirke Community Board and outlined some of the issues stemming from the cyclone that hit mainly coastal communities in the Tararua District, while leaving more than 2300 roading faults in its wake.

Desmond said there were about 600 dropouts over Tararua’s roading network, which was a combined total from weather events between February last year and after the cyclone which hit in February this year.

He said there were about 450 new dropouts resulting from the cyclone.

However, they were still working through the analysis and getting detail on requirements and timeframes to estimate how long it would take for some of the repairs.

Emergency works funding through Waka Kotahi was currently 89 per cent, but the remainder was considered to be too much of a burden on ratepayers.

Desmond said until they had advice from Waka Kotahi on what the rebuild would look like and how much funding was available, they couldn’t commit to a lot of the physical work required.

Andrew Desmond: Until they get funding, they can't commit to the scale of the recovery and repairs. Photo / Leanne Warr

Alliance manager Matt Erard said there was a lot of work going on in the background advocating for the funding.

Board chairman Pat Walshe asked what the chances were of getting the money.

Mayor Tracey Collis said the district was fortunate to have Wairarapa MP Kieran McAnulty as its recovery minister.

“Every conversation I have had with him I have made clear that this district can’t afford even 89 cents.

“In the floods in 2004, the district received 97 cents in the dollar for emergency works funding but that still cost the district about $26 million,” Collis said.

“We cannot afford that again, so the conversations I’ve had with him are that our deprivation rate is about 7.2. There’s no way that we can afford this so I’ve been very strong on that one, as have some of the other mayors.”

Coast Rd in Akitio was just one of more than 2000 roading faults as a result of the cyclone in February. Photo / Tararua District Council

One of the roads of concern was Otanga Rd in Dannevirke.

Desmond said a culvert on that road had been a talking point for many years and they were working through options for repairs.

He said there was mass land movement in that area, including a big slip where it had dropped about three metres and the land was rotating into the bottom gully.

During Cyclone Gabrielle, the culvert had been pushed up and the road had been closed on a temporary basis since then.

Desmond said they had chosen to close the road until a report could be tabled with the council and decisions made about the future of the culvert.