Some Tolaga Bay residents feel their issues have been left in the "too hard basket" as a main road, used to supply food, farm supplies and emergency services remains unfixed.
Civil Defence Area Manager Greg Shelton told 1News the damage to Waihau Road means there is "no way in and no way out" leaving homes and farms cutoff.
Heavy rain has continued to batter East Coast roads over the last few months, with this slip being caused by the most recent storm at the end of June.
Shelton said that lack of action is having massive social, economic and health impacts on those who remain in the Waihau Beach area.
"Most of the residents have chosen to walk out and relocate," Shelton said.
He said there are four residents still in their homes near the section of impacted road, but "everybody else has gone out."
"Regarding the residents [that are still] in there, they have to walk 1km up to that slip and organise food to come over."
He added there are impacts to farm life as well, stating if this problem isn’t fixed soon, there will be bigger issues.
"From my point of view as a farmer, we’ve got stock that will need [to come] out, we’ve got shearing gangs, docking gangs that will need to go in.
"It'll be a couple of months before we need that but it’s still a working operation."
According to Shelton, the Gisborne District Council has said it will be summertime, if not longer, before the road is fixed or a suitable workaround can be found.
Shelton said this isn’t good enough. "[I’m] not gunning for anybody, but things have to be done".
"[It’s] just a case of getting on and doing it."
Shelton said he is concerned about what will happen in the case of an emergency.
"If we get any fires down there, there is no way a fire truck can get down."
Shelton is concerned locals have been left to fend for themselves.
"I’m just frightened of being put in the too hard basket, and the job is 'oh we’ll just wait until summertime and look at alternatives.'"
The Gisborne District Council said it needs to "understand the full scale of the problem before any solutions can be implemented". It added that grocery orders and medication were delivered to isolated residents last week and that residents have "power and connectivity to contact the council".
It says that a geotechnical team has inspected Waihau Road to provide advice on the matter and findings will be released "shortly".
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