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Yes, it’s a touchy subject at this time, especially when lives have been so tragically lost. But, the question remains: Why, when some landscapes have a history of slips and flooding, are people allowed to rebuild there?
Prolonged heavy rain over three days caused severe flooding in Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay. Most roads suffered from slips or flooding. The hardest hit area was Esk Valley in Hawke’s Bay where most homes and farmland was buried by silt or ruined by floodwaters and landslides.
NIWA. 1938 flood.
These photos are some of the Napier and Eskdale floods from times past.
1923:
1931:
1935:
1938:
(Facebook/Old Hawke’s Bay, various contributors)
Muriwai has also had slips in the past.
Discuss it on The BFD.
