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Speaker 1: Good afternoon. As we foreshadowed last night, the government has

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Speaker 1: announced today that it's launching a review into the flooding

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Speaker 1: and wid a well last week. Locals reckon it's the

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Speaker 1: hawks Bay Regional Council's fault because they didn't clear the

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Speaker 1: river bar early enough, which meant that the water backed

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Speaker 1: up and flooded about two hundred homes. This was wird

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Speaker 1: Llwa Mayor Craig Little on the show last night.

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Speaker 2: I just think they don't listen. They're above listening to

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Speaker 2: the public.

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Speaker 1: What do you want? Do you want an apology?

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Speaker 2: Oh gosh, yes, with vast for apology. With no apology,

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Speaker 2: it's just like saying, well, actually nothing's wrong here now.

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Speaker 1: Doctor Nick Petere is the chief executive of Hawks Bay

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Speaker 1: Regional Council.

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Speaker 2: Heinik hi Heather.

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Speaker 1: So are they right the locals? Did you leave the

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Speaker 1: clearing of the bar too late?

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Speaker 2: I think that's going to be revealed with the with

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Speaker 2: the government inquiry that's underway and in our inquiries as well.

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Speaker 1: What does your gut tell you, because I mean the storm,

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Speaker 1: what was it? The flooding happened on the twenty sixth,

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Speaker 1: that's a Wednesday, and the friday before You obviously knew

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Speaker 1: that there was bad weather or on its way because

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Speaker 1: you put the contractor on standby, but you didn't order

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Speaker 1: him to clear the bar until Monday. Do you think

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Speaker 1: you left it too late?

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Speaker 2: I think the guys that made the right calls with

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Speaker 2: the information in front of them. You need some really

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Speaker 2: specific conditions to open a bar, so you need a

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Speaker 2: really decent flow in the river to be able to

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Speaker 2: shift probably fifty thousand cubic meters of rock and shingles.

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Speaker 1: Was there was there not enough flow between Friday and Monday.

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Speaker 2: No, there wouldn't have been enough.

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Speaker 1: He reckons that he could have done it though. Is

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Speaker 1: he wrong?

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Speaker 2: Oh? Look, I don't know that. Want to dispute it

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Speaker 2: with the mayor, but.

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Speaker 1: I'm not talking about the mayor. I'm talking about the

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Speaker 1: contract to Hamish Pride, who's been working on that bar

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Speaker 1: for decades. He reckons you could have started him over

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Speaker 1: the weekend. It would give him enough time and it

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Speaker 1: would have worked. Is he wrong?

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Speaker 2: Look, I think it's really important that we look at

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Speaker 2: that and understand that, and if that's what the review reveals,

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Speaker 2: then fine. But at the stage we've made the best

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Speaker 2: decisions with the public.

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Speaker 1: Have you gone to the lads who pull the pin

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Speaker 1: on this stuff, are the ones who say, yep, go

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Speaker 1: clear the bar. Have you gone and talked to them

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Speaker 1: about what the river flow was like at the weekend?

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Speaker 2: Yes?

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Speaker 1: And what did they say?

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Speaker 2: Yep? So the river flow on the weekend was too

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Speaker 2: low for the bar to break through, like.

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Speaker 1: A line call or like really like massively too low.

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Speaker 1: Would never have.

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Speaker 2: Worked too low at the weekend, but by Monday it

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Speaker 2: was becoming clear that the amount of rain was likely

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Speaker 2: to be high enough to shift the bar. We keep

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Speaker 2: a lookout, you know, over months, for opportunities to get

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Speaker 2: the bar moved and shifted across from where it's more

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Speaker 2: constrained to where it's got the rivererate.

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Speaker 1: Why is it not cleared all of the time like

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Speaker 1: it used to be.

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Speaker 2: It's always been, as I understand, cleared as demanded. So

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Speaker 2: that kind of bar can shift I understand, about a

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Speaker 2: meter and a half a day. So the river is

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Speaker 2: always wanting to go back to the location at the

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Speaker 2: far end of a lagoon, and we do work as

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Speaker 2: as is possible to shift it back to a place

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Speaker 2: where the river can exit more easily.

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Speaker 1: If it finds if this review finds Nick that you

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Speaker 1: guys were to blame for this, even just in part

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Speaker 1: what are you going to do?

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Speaker 2: Look, I think let's wait and see what the review says.

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Speaker 2: I think we've got a It's really important to understand

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Speaker 2: that there's a really complex interaction at a river mouth

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Speaker 2: between the sea, the water coming down the river, and

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Speaker 2: the potential for coastal.

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Speaker 1: I get that. But the reason I'll tell you why

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Speaker 1: I'm asking you this question because last time I talked

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Speaker 1: to you people on this show was after cyclone. Gabriel

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Speaker 1: and Mike Bush's report was pretty scathing of what you

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Speaker 1: guys did. In fact, you had people in your community

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Speaker 1: calling up up and saying, hey, the weather looks really bad,

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Speaker 1: and they were told by you guys, you're overreacting. And

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Speaker 1: then what happened like Esk Valley was flooded and we

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Speaker 1: were plucking people off the rooftops, right, And what happened

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Speaker 1: after that when you were found to have failed is

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Speaker 1: literally nothing. Nothing happened. There was no massive mere culpa.

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Speaker 1: You didn't go out and pay people compensation. And I'm

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Speaker 1: worried that if you'll found again to have dropped the ball,

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Speaker 1: nothing's going to happen.

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Speaker 2: Just in terms of cyclone Gabriel, the evacuations that are

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Speaker 2: not done by the regional council.

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Speaker 1: It's not by emergency management. But isn't that part of

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Speaker 1: you do you guys not run that.

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Speaker 2: We provide the funding for it. But it's done on

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Speaker 2: behalf of all of the councils of Hawke's Bay, not

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Speaker 2: just the regional council on its own.

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Speaker 1: Okay, fair enough, but so emergency management. So in that situation,

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Speaker 1: nothing happened. You have a hand in that. You provide

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Speaker 1: the funding. Henuwei Lmsby, who's part of your team, was

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Speaker 1: fronting that situation. Nothing happened. And here we are again

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Speaker 1: with Hawks Bay Regional Council involved in some way. What's

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Speaker 1: going to happen if this time you are found to

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Speaker 1: be in fact responsible.

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Speaker 2: So look, if we've made significant mistakes in the process,

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Speaker 2: we'll absolutely take that on the chin and then look

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Speaker 2: at what we need to as a result.

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Speaker 1: You apologize, Craig Craig craig wan's an apology? Would you

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Speaker 1: give them one? If you are found to be responsible?

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Speaker 2: Look, as I say, let's let's see what the reviews say,

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Speaker 2: and you know whether we agree or not with what

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Speaker 2: Craig's saying at the moment, I think it's really important

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Speaker 2: and it's really good practice after any event like this

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Speaker 2: to review it. You review your operational response, and you

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Speaker 2: review why why in this case, why we all flooded.

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Speaker 2: Until you've got that information, and you'd need to do

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Speaker 2: it quickly, we all sit and guess. So I think

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Speaker 2: it's really critical that we go through this process and

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Speaker 2: as a result, really welcome what the government's doing today.

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Speaker 1: Fair enough, Nick, thank you very much, and thank you

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Speaker 1: for turning up and talking to us. It's doctor Nick Pete,

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Speaker 1: the chief executive Hawks Bay Regional Council.

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Speaker 2: For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to

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Speaker 2: News Talks ed B from four pm weekdays, or follow

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