<\/p>\n
\nFlood mitigation work has begun to protect Pan Pac, pictured the day after Cyclone Gabrielle, and Whirinaki residents from future flooding.
\nPhoto: Local Democracy Reporting\n<\/p>\n
Flood protection work in the cyclone-hit community of Whirinaki is finally under way, with vegetation now cleared in preparation for the first stage of a $22 million project along State Highway 2.<\/p>\n
The project includes raising and strengthening stopbanks, as well as elevating a section of the highway to improve flood resilience.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, the plan was in doubt after the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC) revealed it was facing a funding shortfall.<\/p>\n
However, following a design change, the government contributed an additional $9 million, bringing its total to $17.3m, while the regional council contributed a further $3m, raising its total to $5.75m.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The key part of the project is raising a 440 metre section of State Highway 2 to link with the stopbanks.<\/p>\n
The work involves first building a sealed, two-way diversion road, allowing for the road-raising tranche of work to begin in January 2026.<\/p>\n
HBRC chairperson Sophie Siers said seeing machinery on site was an exciting milestone and an important step forward for the Whirinaki community, who had faced uncertainty since Cyclone Gabrielle.<\/p>\n
“The construction of the diversion road was significant as we could all see work starting and it would give residents the confidence that better flood protection was on the way.”<\/p>\n
HBRC project manager Luke Cahalin said the bypass was near the Contact Energy generation site and Pan Pac seed orchard.<\/p>\n
“We are working closely with NZTA. We will be raising part of State Highway 2 by up to 1.8m at its apex to integrate with the stopbanks, so it is a significant piece of work. We are also working with NZTA to ensure there is as little disruption to traffic as possible.”<\/p>\n
An HBRC spokesperson said, all going well, the plan was to have the road completed by the end of March.<\/p>\n
“The diversion road material would then be stripped and recycled as roading material for the Contact Energy and Transpower entranceway.<\/p>\n
“There would be some minor stop\/go traffic management at each end of the diversion road, where it ties into the existing State Highway, but the majority of the bypass road would be constructed off-line and would have minimal impact on commuters. The road will be two-way and sealed,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Former HBRC councillor Martin Williams said earlier this year the project was “mission-critical”, not just for the Whirinaki communities it would better protect, but for the Hawke’s Bay economy.<\/p>\n
“The Pan Pac pulp mill, one of the region’s biggest employers, was severely impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle. With rising electricity and insurance costs and a highly volatile export market, I doubt the mill would survive another cyclone without this stopbank project. Simply put, this project is in the ‘too-important-to-fail’ category,” Williams said.<\/p>\n
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Flood mitigation work has begun to protect Pan Pac, pictured the day after Cyclone Gabrielle, and Whirinaki residents…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127038,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-128126","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-podcasts","13":"tag-public-radio","14":"tag-radio-new-zealand","15":"tag-rnz","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}