Tairāwhiti Gisborne residents are "totally over" being in a "constant state of response" as the region continues to face the brunt of brutal weather events.
Tairāwhiti is back to cleaning up the devastation left by another destructive weather event, heavy rain delivered a drenching to the East Coast community at the weekend, which forced a local state of emergency and MetService's highest weather warning, a red heavy rain warning.
Some local residents were forced to evacuate their homes, and Tairāwhiti's roading network is again fragile, Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz told AM her residents have had enough.
"We want to get on with our recovery. We feel it's one step forward, five steps back. We have been in a constant state of response and recovery since January 10th. We really do need a break."
Stolz said heavy rain lashed her district over the weekend and it was still raining at the time she spoke with AM.
"What we've seen this time is a lot of persistent rain and we're experiencing quite a few landslides."
Landslides that were not seen during Cyclone Gabrielle have given away to the consistent downpour this time and Stoltz told AM that may just be the tip of the damage iceberg.
"[Teams] have not had time to get out into the region yet to inspect houses up the coast or to the west, for the ones that they are currently talking about are mostly in the city. So we do expect in the next couple of weeks to get more calls from residents who might notice big cracks in their house or the retaining wall has moved or their driveway has moved."
Some of Tairāwhiti's farming community is still cut off from Cyclone Gabrielle, not helped by a vulnerable roading network.
"State Highway Two is very fragile, it is closed. There was massive movement there. The State Highway 35 is fragile," Stoltz said.
"We do need time to get into that recovery again."
The Mayor said Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty visited the district at the weekend and "could see firsthand the impact on the community".
"He could meet with residents in category two and three homes. He's seen a massive slip in State Highway Two," she said.
"He's well aware of the assistance we would need. So that will be an ongoing discussion between us and central government obviously to se, and Waka Kotahi how they can assist us to get our community back on their feet."
Stoltz said a lot of the recovery work done after Cyclone Gabrielle has been "undone" by the weekend's deluge and says now is the time to not only fix infrastructure but ensure it is resilient.
"We are going to see more of these events and we need to make sure the infrastructure we work on now can withstand those future events."
"It's not just a case of trying to fix it up. Now it is doing a job that is great so that it can withstand what is coming our way in future."
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