A cluster of properties close to Ohiwia Stream no longer carry a post-Cyclone Gabrielle risk category as the $10 million Ōhiti Road | Ōmāhu flood resilience project nears completion, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council has announced.
Eleven homes at Ōhiti Road | Ōmāhu – near the intersection of Ōhiti Road and Taihape Road – formerly classed as Category 2C after Cyclone Gabrielle, no longer carry a risk category under the Government’s Future of Severely Affected Land (FOSAL) framework.
Property owners were personally advised of the change by Council last week.
For local couple Grant and Kate Davison, the news brings relief – and long-awaited closure.
“Cyclone Gabrielle flooded our entire property under more than a metre of floodwater,” Mr Davison says.
“For close to two years, we couldn’t come home because of the uncertainty around our future here.
“Living under Category 2C has been tough. We didn’t know when we’d be fully out of the woods, and we were having to make decisions about our future in the hope that this day would come.”
The Council says the Category 2C Ōhiti Road homes have now been removed from the FOSAL framework and no longer carry a risk category.
Councillor, Jerf van Beek says removing the label is a meaningful step forward for the Ōhiti Road homeowners.
“This brings these households something they’ve been without for a long time: certainty,” Cr van Beek says.
“We can’t prevent extreme weather, and we can’t say that flooding will never happen again. But we can say the risk has been brought down to a level people can live with – and that this is being backed by stronger, more resilient infrastructure.”
Introduced by Central Government following Cyclone Gabrielle, the land categorisation process was a key part of the wider FOSAL programme. It identified communities facing the highest risk – and, crucially, where there was a realistic infrastructure pathway to reduce it.
At Ōhiti Road | Ōmāhu, these homes were hit by an unprecedented volume of water from the Ohiwia Stream during Cyclone Gabrielle. The flood resilience project, now nearing completion, has changed that picture markedly, giving this community new stopbank protection.
The Ōhiti Road | Ōmāhu project sits within the region’s wider $256.5 million flood resilience programme, funded 75% by Central Government through NIFF (National Infrastructure Funding and Financing), and 25% by the Council.
Cr van Beek says this is the outcome Central Government, Regional Council – and the community – have been working towards.
“This is why investment in flood resilience is so important,” he says.
“Not just to repair what was damaged but to give communities a way forward. At Ōhiti Road | Ōmāhu, that path ahead is now visible – in the infrastructure on the ground, and in the greater certainty this brings for local people.”
The flood resilience project at Ōhiti Road | Ōmāhu includes stopbanks on either side of Ohiwia stream: a new 1,650-metre stopbank around the former 2C area, while on the village side, the existing Ōmāhu stopbank is being extended across Taihape Road. Roads are also being raised to meet the new stopbank heights, with Ōhiti Road completed and Taihape Road underway.
Council Chair, Sophie Siers says the work now visible on site (pictured) illustrates how substantial the flood resilience response at Ōhiti Road | Ōmāhu had to be.
“This is major piece of infrastructure in a challenging location, and the community can now see the scale of what is being built,” Chair Siers says.
“With construction in its final stages, this recategorisation outcome marks real progress. It shows the post-Gabrielle response is no longer just a plan, but something real on the ground.
“I want to acknowledge the tremendous effort of everyone involved in delivering this project, especially our main contractors CHB Earthmovers – true masters of the dig! – and the wider project team beside them.
“I also want to acknowledge the resilience and resolve of the Ōhiti Road | Ōmāhu community, and our partnership with Te Piringa Hapū. This has been a long road and we would not be where we are now without their manaakitanga (care) and kotahitanga (collective drive).”
