Residents in Westport's Snodgrass Road will today have the chance to question why they have not been included in a flood resilience package for the region.
Orowaiti River, Westport, on Friday morning after two days of rain, 4 February 2022 Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
The rural residential settlement north of the Orowaiti River was left out of flood protection plans for the town - leaving more than 30 homes at risk of river inundation and storm surge.
A closed meeting was held in Westport for affected residents this morning.
Vicki Stevenson and her husband have lived in Snodgrass Road for 23 years and went along. She was feeling a little anxious ahead of the meeting.
"Are they going to save us? Are we going to drown? Is it going to happen again? Can we fix what we've got? I mean we've already tried as best we can to protect our place. And there's lots of people up here that can't, they don't have the finances, there's four or five elderly, are they're going to move us?"
The Stevenson's home is high on an embankment facing the Orawaiti River and in the recent floods it stayed dry, but their sleepout, sheds and garden were flooded.
Mike Stevenson spent six months building a concrete wall at the bottom of their property to keep the water out and the couple have bought a big water pump in preparation for the next flood.
"It's just caused a lot of people a stress, because we all love where we live but something's got to happen. Let us take over the wall then if that's the case, and we've got people with tracks and diggers companies in Westport that are keen to offer their assistance to do that if they're going to cut us off."
During the last flood in February, one resident arranged for a local trucking company to dump truckloads of gravel to form a makeshift stop bank, which saved the low lying properties from being inundated.
But any permanent measure needs to be approved by council.
Stevenson said despite it all she was optimistic ahead of the meeting.
"Hopefully they'll come back with something, give us something that's proper and legal that we can do to keep us all still living out here, or sort out the poor guys that have just had enough and want gone."
She told her husband she was ready to leave after the last flood, but she really doesn't want to.
"I've got everything crossed, I don't really want to go anywhere else, I like it here, this is our home."
Retired air traffic controller Noel Burr has lived on Snodgrass Road for 17 years.
His home flooded last July, and the vegetation across his lifestyle block killed by saltwater inundation from the storm surge following cyclone Fehi in 2018.
He said the West Coast Regional Council's put forward several flood protection options - one including a ring-walling of Snodgrass Road and Carter's Beach - but that was left out of the final proposal.
"We feel as though one group of ratepayers are going to be looked after and the other group of ratepayers namely ourselves and not and we don't really feel as though they've got anything like the right argument to be able to tell us what's going to happen under those circumstances."
It felt like the council were forging ahead despite proper engagement with the community, he said.
"There's a big chunk of New Zealand that's going to be in the same sort of boat with climate change being a major factor in what's actually happening in our day to day life. I think if they can get it right here, it's going to be a wonderfully good example for the rest of the country as far as small town New Zealand goes."
The $45 million flood resilience proposal put together by the Buller District Council, Ngāti Waewae and the West Coast Regional Council is currently before the government.
It proposes a $26m ring embankment around the majority of Westport, including Carter's Beach along with other flood protection options with the costs split between the government and ratepayers.
The government has signalled it could be a test case for future climate-driven protection schemes around New Zealand.
West Coast Regional manager of strategy and communications Nichola Costley said if co-investment funding was secured from the government, it would confirm what actions will be taken and engage in consultation with the Westport community.
Residents were able to ask questions at the closed meeting in Westport today of the engineering consultants who did the modelling that informed the package of flood resilience options.
