{"id":620350,"date":"2026-10-04T13:20:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T13:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/620350\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T13:20:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T13:20:18","slug":"cost-of-fixing-storm-damaged-whangarei-roads-soars-to-more-than-23m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/620350\/","title":{"rendered":"Cost of fixing storm-damaged Whang\u0101rei roads soars to more than $23m"},"content":{"rendered":"

The cost of fixing storm damage inflicted on Whang\u0101rei district roads earlier this year has risen to more than $23 million – of which almost $11m has been spent clearing one giant landslide.<\/p>\n

By Peter de Graaf for RNZ<\/a><\/p>\n

The almost week-long January storm<\/a> cut off coastal settlements at \u014cakura and Whangaruru, swept away a bridge approach, damaged dozens of homes and destroyed others, and triggered a huge number of slips on the coastal road between Whang\u0101rei and Russell.<\/p>\n

One section of road at Helena Bay Hill was only re-opened on Friday, after an eight-month effort to remove almost 100,000 cubic metres of soil, boulders and trees.<\/p>\n

Further storms in March and April added more damage.<\/p>\n

A report prepared for Whang\u0101rei District Council said the initial estimate for repairing storm-damaged roads was $16.5m<\/a>, but that had now increased to $23.2m.<\/p>\n

The report, by transportation manager Greg Monteith, sought councillors’ approval for the extra $6.7m.<\/p>\n

The NZ Transport Agency was expected to contribute $16m, leaving Whang\u0101rei ratepayers to pick up the remaining $7.2m.<\/p>\n

The $23.2m total included $10.9m for emergency works at the massive Helena Bay Hill slip on Russell Road, the main connection between Whang\u0101rei and coastal communities at \u014cakura and Whangaruru.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The before and after of the Helena Bay Hill slip repairs. (Source: Facebook\/Ng\u0101tiwai Trust Board)<\/p>\n

The council previously described the slip repair as one of the biggest and most complex projects it had ever undertaken.<\/p>\n

About 93,000 cubic metres of soil, boulders and downed trees had to removed – reduced from the initial estimate of 110,000 cubic metres – and the 35m-high slip face had to be stabilised.<\/p>\n

The cost of fixing the slip had previously been put at $7.5m.<\/p>\n

The council would fund its share of the extra costs by borrowing, to avoid major delays or cuts to existing roading projects.<\/p>\n

The report stated the original cost estimate for the Helena Bay Hill slip was based on a completion date of mid-2026.<\/p>\n

Since then, however, persistent wet weather, difficult ground conditions, giant basalt boulders, fill site constraints and further slip movement had delayed work and increased costs.<\/p>\n

Some boulders were so big, they could not be broken up, even with a 50-tonne breaker, and instead required blasting or a specialist rock-breaking crew.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The newly-reopened Russell Road at Helena Bay Hill. (Source: Whangarei District Council)<\/p>\n

The report stated there had also been delays due to health and safety issues, such as near-misses involving trucks and local residents, and unauthorised entry into exclusion areas.<\/p>\n

Once the slip had settled, which was expected to take about a year, more funding would be needed to repair the road below the slip and along the 2km route to the clean-fill site.<\/p>\n

The estimated road rehabilitation cost was $2.3m.<\/p>\n

During the road closure, the Whang\u0101rei District Council operated a convoy, via steep, narrow and unsealed Kaiikanui Road, to allow continued access from the south.<\/p>\n

Piloted convoys left every 35-40 minutes from 6.30am to 6.30pm, seven days a week.<\/p>\n

The cost of operating the Kaiikanui Road detour was put at $2.1m.<\/p>\n

According to claims recorded by the Insurance Council, the total nationwide cost of the January storm, was $75.9m.<\/p>\n

More than 5000 claims were lodged including $54.5m for damage to homes, $13.7m to commercial property and $4.6m for vehicles.<\/p>\n

According to the Insurance Council, the most costly event of the past decade in terms of insurance claims was the 2023 Anniversary Weekend storm, which totalled $1.98 billion nationwide.<\/p>\n

About a week later, Cyclone Gabrielle cost $1.85b.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The cost of fixing storm damage inflicted on Whang\u0101rei district roads earlier this year has risen to more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[273,687,111,43,139,1067,69],"class_list":["post-620350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-environment","tag-housing-and-infrastructure","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620350","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=620350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}