When Lillian Te Hau-Ward went for a drive to inspect the damage of her small East Coast community after recent flooding, she cried and said she did not want to go back.
"It's just devastating."
The Tokomaru Bay bridge split in two with the flooding but has since been repaired. Photo: ATS Engineering & Network Solutions/Supplied
In Tokomaru Bay, about an hour and a half north of Gisborne, homes have been destroyed and roads washed away.
The local school, Hatea-a-Rangi School, has been filled with silt and is closed.
Down the road at Te Ariuru Marae, a raging Waitakeo Stream washed a whole chiller unit on to the road, such was the volume of water passing through the building.
Lillian Te Hau-Ward of Tokomaru Bay has been working tirelessly following the severe flooding in Tairāwhiti. Photo: Rebecca Grunwell/Gisborne Herald
"It really tears on the heart strings when you see the devastation around Tokomaru," Te Hau-Ward says.
Few understand those needs better than her. Following the flooding which began on 22 March, she mobilised and has been non-stop ever since.
Already a hapū representative of Te Whanau a Ruataupare me Te Ao Tawarirangi and a Covid support lead with Akau Warriors, she is now coordinating Civil Defence on the ground too.
A typical day on the job could involve organising logistics for recent army support, or ensuring staff at Ngāti Porou Hauora (the only Māori-owned and operated hospital in the world) can get to and from work.
On Wednesday morning, she went live on Radio Ngāti Porou to explain what essential workers were.
"You name it, I've been doing it," she says.
The challenges keep coming but Te Hau-Ward's resolve to see good outcomes for her community gives her the energy to keep going.
Hatea-a-Rangi School in Tokomaru Bay was filled with silt during the extreme weather. Photo: Supplied
She's overwhelmed by the way rangatahi have stepped up and answered the call to get things up and running, including management of the temporary crossing at Mangahauini River.
Messages of support from around the world have buoyed the community, and the Ministry of Social Development stepping in with pre-loaded payment cards for those worst affected hasn't gone unnoticed, she says.
"We've had more highs than lows. I'm so proud of our community."
With Gisborne District Council chief executive Nedine Thatcher Swann saying on Friday that a full recovery of the region could take up to 24 months, the road ahead is daunting.
Te Hau-Ward is choosing to remain optimistic things can, and will, get better.
"You've just got to carry on. Have some moments of tears and then just carry on."
Tairāwhiti's state of emergency was lifted on 1 April after nine days, with Civil Defence saying the region was entering a recovery phase.
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
