The devastating reality of the weekend’s severe flooding in the Ōtorohanga and Waipā Districts is becoming clearer as both regions remain under a local State of Emergency. Emergency crews are battling to clear roads and deliver essential supplies to whānau trapped and isolated in their homes.
Adding to the crisis is the grim environmental toll. Locals in Ngutunui, inland of Kāwhia, discovered and collected more than 40 dead tuna that had washed up from the swollen river this morning.
Ngutunui resident Regan Reti described the deep personal impact of the loss, noting the significance of the river to his community.
“All up, so far this morning I think we’ve found about 40. Big ones, baby ones, mokopuna ones,” Reti said.
“I got married down here, we’ve camped down here, or tamariki and whānau have swam down here, we’re baptised in the river,” he said.
“People come here for healing. All those memories are etched into our hearts. Seeing it like this is really sad.”
The Ōtorohanga and Waipā District councils have been working together to support their communities.
Waipā Māori Ward Councillor Dale-Maree Morgan is sending a direct message to whānau impacted by the severe weather, stressing the urgent need to contact the council’s Emergency Operations Centre (EOC).
“We are asking people to notify us if they have that capability, because if we’re not notified we can’t deploy any support to people,” Morgan said.
“We can’t do anything if whaanau don’t tell us. So, as soon as we know we’ll do the best we can to do what we need too,” she said.
Councillor Morgan also expressed her sadness over the loss of the tuna, which are a taonga species. “It saddens me to hear taaonga being affected like that. The hope in that though is, that many of our iwi in the district have great programmes when it comes to tuna and we’ll be looking at those in the rebuild of how we deal with this trauma,” she said.
Cleanup efforts continue across the district as the community grapples with the destruction caused by the floodwaters.