March 02, 2023
School back as Te Karaka rebuilds from flood
One of the parts of Te Tairāwhiti hardest hit by extreme weather will edge closer to normality today with the reopening of Te Karaka Area School.
Resident Joleen Perry, who manages a social services agency in Gisborne, says residents and their pets evacuated to a nearby hill when the floods came through, and much of the past two weeks has been spent cleaning up.
She says tamariki will be back at school today, even though there are displaced whānau still staying in some of the classrooms.
“That was our civil defence hub and so they have just blocked off some of the areas for the next couple of weeks and we have got a lot of support from different community organsiaitoins that are helping the whānau that are still displaed to fnd somewhere temporarily while they rebuild their homes,” Ms Perry says.
She says Te Karaka has been inundated with so many donations it has struggled to find places to store them all until they can be used.