Roading and Project Updates

Central Hawke’s Bay Roading and Project Updates

February 2023 

The wet weather which dominated much of winter and spring last year followed us into 2023, with Cyclone Hale hitting in early January, followed by the heavy rainfall experienced by the region later that month.

While our roading network suffered some damage and disruption, in comparison to the storms during winter, and what was experienced in other parts of the North Island, we thankfully got off lightly here in Central Hawke’s Bay.

During Cyclone Hale the normal flood areas like Taylor’s slab in Ongaonga and Hiranui Road closed early, with several others following throughout the four-day event due to overslips, fallen trees and a couple of under slips. Most of the impact was to sites that have already been identified as part of our Roading Recovery project, with just a few new sites incurring damage.

In the most recent rain event, a new significant slip on Porangahau Road caused further damage, which is similar in nature to that of the large Farm Road slip which occurred last year.

Responding to these events is a big task and we are thankful for all involved especially both of our main contractors who responded efficiently and effectively throughout the duration of the events, doing what needed in order to reopen roads that had lost access.

Remember you can visit our dedicated Roading Recovery project webpage here, complete with an interactive map highlighting all slips across the network and the real-time status of that section of road. Once we have fully launched into the recovery work you will be able to track the progress of repairs here as well.

Lastly, rest assured we are watching Cyclone Gabrielle very closely. There is still uncertainty around where it will hit and how hard but we will keep you updated closer to the beginning of next week, when it is scheduled to make landfall over New Zealand.

 Porangahau Road Slip, January 2023