Whakatane District Councillors are assessing the damage caused by recent flooding in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.

Mayor Tony Bonne and Councillor Andrew Iles, along with the council's chief executive, Marty Grenfell, have inspected the Waimana and Taneatua townships, which were the main areas affected by the flooding.

Whakatane District Council Mayor Tony Bonne, left, and Bay of Plenty Regional Council principal works engineers Tony Dunlop inspect damage to Raroa Pa Road, Waimana.

'Our main focus over the next few days will be assessing the needs of people affected by the flood and making the necessary arrangements for those needing further assistance,” says Tony.

'Considering the amount of rainfall in the Eastern Bay of Plenty over the New Year holiday period, the district could have been a lot worse off and we were lucky to escape major flooding in Whakatane.”

He is especially impressed with the response of local communities isolated by the flooding.

'The resilience of the Waimana community is great to see.

'They developed their own emergency response plan in conjunction with council Civil Defence staff and this worked really well.”

Tony says they will be looking at providing resources to iwi, the volunteer fire service and farmers to enable them to help themselves during an emergency situation when they become isolated.

Over the holiday period, the Eastern Bay of Plenty experienced 402mm of rain – measured at the ranger station at Waimana.

This rain caused large flows in the Waimana and Whakatane Rivers and extensive flooding of farmland in the Waimana and Taneatua wards, closing roads and causing damage to farm properties.

The Whakatane River spit was breached with the help of a digger on January 1 before midday, just prior to when the river was peaking at the same time as the high tide.

Chief executive Marty Grenfell says Whakatane District Council staff and contractors worked hard throughout the holiday period to open roads and restore services.

'Staff followed the storm event emergency procedures, which they have developed, and this includes preventative maintenance such as cleaning out stormwater drains and screens, and ensuring all pumps are running and operating effectively.

'Extra staff were also called upon during this time.”

He says overall, the stormwater systems operated well and this resulted in minimal disruption in Whakatane.

'However, there was localised flooding occurring in Muriwai Drive with water flowing into a number of businesses along the wharf, in Kakaharoa Drive around the Information Centre, as well as Henderson Street and Ferry Road.

'Staff have also been busy cleaning up the debris from the flood and the boat ramp and car park are both open.

'Boats have been returned to their moorings. Lower priority works such as silt cleaning along the Warren Cole Walkway will occur over the next few days.”

A ‘boil water' notice for the Ruatoki water supply was issued on January 1, following high turbidity and low chlorine levels in the scheme and staff followed the Ministry of Health guidelines that set out when boil water notices are to be issued.

Marty says the notice is still in effect.

He says samples have been taken and staff are continuing to monitor the situation and will advise residents as soon as it is safe to stop boiling their drinking water.

Transportation manager Martin Taylor says all roads are open, except for Stanley Road, where further slips have resulted in the road been closed at its Waimana Gorge end and Matahi Valley Road south of Ogilvies Bridge.

Pukehou Road is closed as a culvert has blown out 3km along the road although access is available from either end of Pukehou Road.

Martin says crews are still clearing slips on the roads and motorists are asked to drive carefully and slow down by road works.