Flooding in Whakatane

There has been a lot of rain in the Bay of Plenty over the last week. The worst hit town was Matata (pop. c300). When the rain began some of the residents were evacuated to the marae, but they were moved into Tauranga (I think?) pretty soon after that.

I was listening to National Radio on Friday morning, Linda Clark was interviewing one of the locals, and he had ALL the lines. He left Linda Clark for dust.

I was writing in my diary at the time, these are the lines that I wrote down as he pulled them out:

• Opening lines: Linda: So, Bill, you must be pretty stressed out! Bill: No, why would I? You should have seen the earthquake of …. 
• Why he remained in the town during the flooding: “They asked me to leave and I told them to go and find a taxidermist!” 
• In response to a question about the insurance arrangements of locals: “They’re from a - What’s your favourite Pakeha saying? ‘Lower socio-economic group.’” 
• "This morning I got up and picked up the hose to hose some of the mud off of the concrete and the water just ran off the mud. So I went back inside to have a cup of tea and a think about it.” 
• “We don’t need a Health Clinic! We’re all healthy here!” 

But the most interesting part of the whole interview was right at the end when Bill attributed the flooding to utu, the result of the breaking of tapu on local wahi tapu.

During council consultation, there had been a disagreement between two local iwi about the site of a burial ground. One iwi came out tops and the council built on the contested site.

The elderly man from Matata believed that a tapu had been violated through the construction – and that the flood was revenge for the breaking of that tapu. I wanted to know more, I was excited and interested, bar the Bird Calls and correspondence this was the best thing I’d heard for ages…

Then Linda had to say goodbye, because it was time for the news and the Budget was being announced that day. [Changes in taxes will give me $3 more in the pocket in the next three years! But I’m still going to be crucified by the interest on my Student Loan.]

Article from Stuff - Severe Rain Warning for Bay of Plenty