Wairoa's mayor Craig Little is calling for a government inquiry into this week's flooding, wanting to know why the Hawke's Bay Regional Council didn't call earlier for a channel to be dug at the river mouth to prevent the flooding of 400 properties.
Locals are furious the council didn't act sooner and even the contractor who was called in to do the job says it's 'ridiculous' they weren't mobilised until it was too late.
Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell was in Wairoa on Thursday and was greeted by angry and emotional residents.
Among them was Dianna Downey, owner of The Limery, which has been hit hard by flooding.
"It's just devastating," Downey told Mitchell.
"It's gone right through the packhouse, the processing plant, everything we've built up over these last 15 years. I don't know if I can come back from this."
Paul Mucarlo is also frustrated, saying the damage was entirely preventable.
"In 32 years I've never seen flooding like this, ever," he said.
One of The Limery's workers, Toni Botica, is among many blaming the Hawke's Bay Regional Council for the flooding.
"This is the council's fault. They should have opened the bar - you ask everybody, the bar should have been opened," she said.
"Why wasn't it opened on Monday when it wasn't raining? Now we've got seven or eight jobs on the line, we don't know if we have jobs next week because of this. It's bad."
In big weather events, the regional council digs channels in the sand bar across Wairoa's river mouth so the river can flow out to sea more easily. But the work didn't begin until Tuesday morning, when the heavy rain had already started.
"I just can't understand it. The insurance companies should sue the regional council," said Mucarlo.
The river swept into 400 properties and reached as far as four blocks away from its banks, an area that's never flooded before. Wairoa's mayor texted the regional council on Monday saying locals were angry no action was being taken.
"There should be machines mobilised at least 24 hours ago or more - this poor performance is unacceptable for Wairoa," his text read.
The regional council's chair Hinewai Ormsby texted back saying: "Timing is important as they need high flows to have a chance of working, so they can't do it a week in advance."
Mayor Little told Newshub what the regional council ended up doing was "too little, too late".
"We need an inquiry into what happened - a lot of people have lost their livelihoods over this," said Little.
The regional council's group manager of asset management Chris Dolley said they're open to that.
"We're totally transparent, so if the government decides to have an inquiry, we'll be cooperating fully with that inquiry," Dolley told Newshub.
"I would imagine many people are angry - we try our hardest, we're trying to make it clear it's not as simple as just digging up the river, it's a complex combo to have a successful opening."
Hamish Pryde is the contractor tasked with opening the river mouth, but didn't get called up until Monday afternoon and couldn't start work until Tuesday morning because it takes time to get the machinery in place.
"By the time we got the call it was already raining and we basically had a day to respond," said Pryde.
"Our backs were against the wall right from the start. We feel terribly sorry for the people of Wairoa that have got flooded, we did the best we could but honestly we didn't have a show."
They had to abandon two excavators and a bulldozer that are now stuck and might have to be written off.
"Their engines are full of water. One of them has lot of computers, that'll be most difficult," said Pryde.
He's been digging through the river bar for 30 years and has successfully completed the task hundreds of times, saving the town from flooding. Pryde said it often takes a week, and he wanted this job to begin on Friday.
"We can't be expected to respond when the storm starts, that's just ridiculous," he said.
The mayor is calling for changes at the regional council, saying: "They need to now start listening, that's the biggest thing. There needs to be local presence, local knowledge here in Wairoa."
The minister agrees.
"I've heard the message loud and clear, that they're locals and they know the area better than anyone... I'll definitely be having conversations with the regional council," said Mitchell.
He told Newshub he's going to take a Cabinet paper to Parliament on Monday as well. Although Mitchell won't commit to a Government review right now, he's not ruling it out either.
"We are still in response mode at the moment. Those issues will be dealt with, but that will be at a later date," said Mitchell.
