Following devastating floods that have left whānau on Phillips Road homeless, local Māori Ward councillors, Tenille Kete and Jaimee Tamaki, are on the ground delivering immediate assistance.
The flooding has resulted in multiple properties being yellow or red-carded by Civil Defence due to extensive water damage and contamination, forcing whānau like Kane Wharepouri’s to evacuate.
“The water came up and down, it left all the paru inside the carpet,” Wharepouri said.
“The smell, it’s very hard to explain the smell but it’s a combination between vomit and toilet really,” he said.
“I felt like I abandoned my tupuna with their pictures with our pounamu and stuff.”
Wharepouri and his family are currently staying at Te Kotahitanga Marae, which has opened its doors as a temporary refuge for the community displaced by the flooding.
Local councillors Kete and Tamaki are acting as a vital link between the affected whānau and official support.
“Yes there’s the council pages, but they also wanna see a face. They wanna hear a real person,” Kete said.
“I also want to explain to them this is only the first stage, this is how we get there, and this is where we wanna be,” she said.
Jaimee Tamaki, who was quick to use social media to let the community know her marae was offering hot kai, expressed gratitude to be in a space where she could help.
“It was then clear where I could help best and awhi them through some of their hardest decisions around you know, we have no home, you know those simple necessities of survival they no longer had.”
The focus for Ōtorohanga now shifts from immediate rescue to long-term recovery, with the continued support of local marae aiding the whānau who have lost their homes.
