Ron looks out the window during a visit to the Vogel Street home this week. Photo: Gisborne Herald / Liam Clayton
When Janet leaves her daughter's Gisborne house, she still locks the front door out of habit.
The place has been gutted of its contents by Cyclone Gabrielle, which turned its interior into a muddy pool.
Outside, the seemingly untouched lemon tree is one of the few things to have escaped the storm's wrath.
An inspirational text plastered to the wall of the hallway is a remnant of a past without angry weather.
"This is your life," the quote begins, ironically.
Following the cyclone, Janet and Ron - who did not wish to give their surname - have been heavily involved in managing the house for their daughter, who lives overseas.
The tenants are long gone. Their last night at the house was during Gabrielle, when they were forced to evacuate at midnight.
The couple recalls them carrying armloads of clothing up the drive.
"He said 'there's mud everywhere'," Ron recalled.
A quote at the end of the hallway is one of the few things left in the Vogel Street house. Built in the 1970s with concrete walls, it is too heavy to be lifted off site. Photo: Gisborne Herald / Liam Clayton
After the flood waters subsided, both Janet and Ron set to work clearing out the Vogel Street address, assuming it could be lived in again.
Builders arrived, and a number of friends chipped in to revive the silt-laden garden.
Janet said the past four months have been a whirlwind of kitchen and carpet stores.
But this month, all progress came to a crashing halt when news arrived the house had been labelled Category 3.
Under the government's new rating system, the property was deemed to be in an area where the risk of future severe weather events could not be properly mitigated.
It will be bought out in collaboration with the council.
The property located just a stone's throw from Gisborne CBD has been deemed Category 3, meaning it will be bought out by the Government in collaboration with the council. Photo: Gisborne Herald / Liam Clayton
There are 17 such properties in Tai Rāwhiti, and a further 1000 Category 2 across the region, where interventions are possible.
"All these houses just being demolished [is] such a waste. We've got a severe housing shortage, in theory," Janet said.
Despite her despondency, she acknowledged the situation is outside her control and the house is "probably not" liveable again.
"We felt like we were moving forward, and now, you just don't know.
"We're just focusing on our daughter coming home."
The disappointment was felt most keenly by the couple's daughter, who had owned the property for nine years and hoped to make it her home after a stint abroad.
"She's gutted that it's level 3, because she wants to come back here to live. She said it's such an amazing street."
Gisborne District Council said there is no specific timeframe for payouts and mitigation under the new category system.
Last Friday, mayor Rehette Stoltz said the council was working closely with the government to find a way to bring clarity to the uncertainty many affected homeowners were feeling.
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
