People have praised the council and the community after a bridge at Lake Ferry reopened late on Wednesday afternoon, and a second bridge was set to reopen late on Thursday.
By Sue Teodoro, Local Democracy Reporting
The first had been damaged by the raging Tūranganui River during the storm earlier this week, and the second by flooding.
More than 100 people had remained cut off on the lower North Island’s south coast on Thursday morning for a third day, as they waited for news about when the second bridge would reopen.
That bridge over the Hurupi Stream on Cape Palliser Rd was closed by South Wairarapa District Council after it was damaged in Monday’s storm. On Thursday afternoon it was understood that bridge would reopen at 4.30pm, subject to weight restrictions.
Kim Hayes, one of the administrators of the Waimeha Camping Village on Cape Palliser Rd, praised the council and contractors Fulton Hogan.
"I really take my hat off to those guys. The council and the Fulton Hogan crew getting onto those bridges has been amazing."
Hayes estimated 115 remained stuck on the Ngawi side of the Hurupi Bridge on Thursday morning. Multiple helicopter supply drops on Wednesday meant the community had what they needed for now, she said, with emergency services coordinating essentials being brought in on about three trips.
One person had been evacuated by helicopter.
"The first helicopter drop had urgent medication. We evacuated a woman from Whatarangi who needed an operation.
"We have toddlers here, and we needed baby formula, nappies, bread, milk and more medication," she said.
Hayes said the community was resilient, but needed the bridge.
"This is an amazing community. Everyone helps each other.
"There are a lot of businesses here that rely on that bridge being functional, including the lobster and fishing industries, and the camping village."
Meanwhile the Lake Ferry community were pleased the bridge over the Tūranganui River was open.
Resident Vicky Prout estimated it had opened about 6pm on Wednesday, and people had quickly gotten back on the road.
"People are pretty relieved they can just get back to normal and have their whānau home. They are happy the community support was there and everyone worked well together.
"The traffic was quite heavy coming past here after the bridge opened, in and out."
A group had arranged a food drop for locals.
"We were happy with our box of food that we got. We had a chip sandwich for dinner."
The store in Pirinoa had been key in providing supplies to the stranded communities.
Dave Pillar and his partner own the Pirinoa Community Store, to the north of the Tūranganui River bridge.
"The shop was the saviour," said one resident who asked not to be named.
PIllar said during the crisis the shop was taking orders over the phone and online
"The bridge went out and people started discussing how we would get stuff over to the other side of the bridge. There was a human chain set up, and people were ringing orders through and just loading up bags to go down there and ferry it across.
"We were running it down to the bridge from this side. Anyone heading that way was stopping in and getting loaded up. There were a lot of people doing runs."
Stranded settlements dealing with loss of power and access to supplies and essential services. (Source: TVNZ)
Pillar estimated between 20 and 30 runs had been done all up.
"It was medications, food, nappies, personal supplies and fresh water mainly."
PIllar said the store became the hub to get things through, but the community had done the heavy lifting.
"It was all community that did this. It was Pirinoa side supporting Lake Ferry residents."
Local Democracy Reporting is local-body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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