Flooding at the Wairoa Yacht Club in June. Photo: Supplied / Wairoa Yacht Club
Wairoa District Council and iwi leaders are rejecting three reviews by the Hawke's Bay Regional Council into the town's June flooding, saying they are not independent.
The two councils and the iwi leaders met on Friday for the first time since the release of four separate reviews into the devastating flooding, which saw 400 properties swamped when the river burst its banks.
A government inquiry, led by former police commissioner Mike Bush, found the regional council lacked a proper plan for managing the river mouth and did not listen to locals who called for action before heavy rain was forecast.
There has been huge public backlash towards the regional council for not digging a channel to let the rising river release into the sea sooner - known as 'opening the bar'.
The regional council is now facing legal action over the flooding.
Wairoa Mayor Craig Little said he accepted the government inquiry but was rejecting the three regional council reviews, which were carried out by Graeme Campbell, Tonkin +Taylor, and consultant Kyle Christensen.
"We've made it quite clear there is only one independent review and the other three reviews are Hawke's Bay Regional Council reviews."
Those regional council reviews found that the flooding was the result of high rainfall, rising river levels, spring tides, storm surge as well as the position of the bar, all of which coincided to create a one-in-250-year event.
"We've got the information from the right data people and we dispel that, even the highest waves are in low tide so they got it wrong," Little said.
"They got it loud and clear. Everyone is pretty grumpy but we need to move forward now and work together."
He was hoping that the regional council would apologise.
"They've got to have some empathy for what happened in Wairoa and I haven't seen that," he said.
A regional council spokesperson said the council had a very productive meeting with Wairoa District Council and Tatau Tatau o te Wairoa.
"We discussed the three independent reviews we commissioned. We look forward to working with WDC and Tatau Tatau o te Wairoa moving forward as we develop solutions for Wairoa."
