She's moved 14 times since toxic flooding forced her out – now she has a place to call home
After more than two years of uncertainty and constant upheaval, Lucky Hawkins finally has a permanent home in Tātau Tātau o Te Wairoa's Te Rauā residential development.
Photo:
LDR / Linda Hall
A Wairoa wahine forced out of her home by Cyclone Gabrielle's toxic aftermath has finally found somewhere she can call home.
Lucky Hawkins moved 14 times in two years between short-term rentals, Airbnbs, whānau homes and even beaches after floodwater mixed with chemicals from the business next door swept through her property and made it unliveable in 2023.
Last year, desperate for stability, she and her partner bought a house bus.
Even that was battered by storms and setbacks.
The past week has brought tears of joy and disbelief for Hawkins after moving into a permanent home in Tātau Tātau o Te Wairoa's Te Rauā residential development.
"After more than two years of uncertainty, constant upheaval, and surviving with only the barest of necessities, we now have something we haven't had in a very long time, a home.
"A warm, safe, stable whare," Hawkins said.
The residential development consists of 43 homes which are used as affordable rentals.
Occupants face a robust selection process to prove hardship, reliability and the ability to pay their bills.
Nine of the homes are now occupied.
Hawkins says she can't help but feel guilty.
"There are so many people in similar situations to mine. People living in sheds. I feel guilty that people are hearing my story.
"I know what it feels like to have no place to belong, everything starts to shift. Your footing feels unsure. For us, the first thing to go was our health, physically, mentally, and emotionally.
"But now, everything has changed. We're home. And because we have this foundation, we can look forward. We can rest, heal, rebuild and dream again.
"For me, it means picking up where I left off, back in Wairoa, continuing the journey I began years ago. From night shifts at Affco to full-time study."
On the morning of the cyclone, she remembered thinking about 8am that, after all the hype, nothing had happened.
"My mum, who is profoundly deaf, was living with me at the time. I was writing her a note to say, 'see I told you nothing would happen,' when suddenly I saw all this water coming down the street.
"The water went through our house. We managed to save a few things, but the reason we had to leave was because we lived next door to a panel beaters and toxic chemicals washed through our home and it wasn't safe to stay."
Hawkins said education had changed her life.
"After working at Affco for three years, I decided I needed to do something. I did okay at school, so I started studying during the day and worked at night."
She has completed 12 qualifications "right here in Wairoa" and is now in the final stage of her Doctorate in Professional Practice, focused on how education can transform individuals and communities.
Her first paid job was teaching intensive literacy and numeracy in prisons.
She has just begun writing a children's book, which she hopes will become a series.
"We are not just thankful to be back in Wairoa, we are transformed by the gift of returning.
"We carry our gratitude in everything we do next."
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Does New Zealand need a common will repository?
One of the most common queries the Citizens' Advice Bureau fields is to do with death and dying. More than 6000 enquiries about this topic were made to the CAB in 2023 - many over what to do if someone dies intestate - without a will - and the consequent impacts of that. Also of concern, setting up Enduring Power of Attorney and how to manage funeral costs. The organisation's Deputy Chief Executive is Andrew Hubbard, and he joins Kathryn to talk about why New Zealand needs a common will repository and a publicly funded service for wills and setting up EPAs. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
RNZ News
3 hours ago
- RNZ News
New recycling rules one year on
It's now been more than a year since legislation aligned recycling rules for most of the country, how has that gone? The changes meant only plastics numbered 1, 2 and 5 would be collected by kerbside recyclers and that all lids would have to be removed and put in the rubbish. At the time of the change in February last year 16 per cent of items in recycling bins was typically not able to be recycled and were contaminating bins. The alignment was for all councils with kerbside recycling to follow the same rules, as previously they differed per region. So now that it has been more than a year since the changes, how have they gone, and how much of our plastic is still being bundled off to buyers overseas? The Ministry for the Environment's general manager of waste systems and operations Shaun Lewis. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
RNZ News
7 hours ago
- RNZ News
Destruction of 100-year-old pōhutukawa 'a travesty'
Ballance Street resident Kirsty Porter gives the remnants of the century old pōhutukawa a hug. It should not have been cut down, she and other New Plymouth residents say. Photo: RNZ/ Robin Martin An award-winning landscape designer has weighed into a stoush over the felling of a 100-year-old pōhutukawa to clear it from powerlines in New Plymouth. Michael Mansvelt says the multi-trunk tree could have been managed and kept, but has instead been sacrificed, part of a pattern he believes is being repeated across a city famed for its gardens. Award-winning designer Michael Mansvelt says the destruction of a 100-year-old pōhutukawa tree in New Plymouth is 'a travesty'. Photo: RNZ/ Robin Martin The chainsaws of Powerco contractors came for the 15-metre high pōhutukawa on Ballance Street during last week's downpour. The tree had fallen victim to a dispute over who was responsible for maintaining it - the homeowner - whose berm it was growing on - or the council. The overgrown pōhutukawa tree being removed. Photo: RNZ/Robin Martin Michael Mansvelt - who had been in the design business for three decades and was the author of several books - was gutted at its demise. "It's really sad. I feel really frustrated. We're a garden city. We are known all around the world for excellence in horticulture. People come here to enjoy Taranaki and New Plymouth Ngāmotu especially for our gardens, and the fact that this tree is gone is a travesty and it didn't need to happen." He believed the pōhutukawa could have been made safe without destroying it. "These trees are metrosideros is the name which means ironwood. In Cyclone Bola, when I was a very young gardener it was the pōhutukawa and Norfolk pines that weren't affected. "We know that selective pruning could've easily removed branches that were anywhere near the powerlines. I note two or three limbs that could've been removed very easily without destroying the canopy." Mansvelt says the selective pruning of pūriri trees near the pōhutukawa was an example of good arbory practice. Photo: RNZ/ Robin Martin Mansvelt said it was ironic that pūriri trees lining neighbouring Selwyn Street just a few metres away had been selectively trimmed to keep them out of powerlines. "This one of our only tree-lined streets here in New Plymouth and we've got some beautiful pūriri here, but they've been limbed really effectively, they've been limbed away from the power line, so anything that was approaching the power lines has been cut off right at the base and that means it won't grow back. This is what we would call in the industry good horticultural or good arbory practice." Trees are frequently trimmed to keep them away from powerlines, without needing to take down the whole tree, Mansvelt says. Photo: RNZ/ Robin Martin Alana Brough, who was quoted $10,000 to have the pōhutukawa trimmed, owns the Ballance Street property. The daughter of district councillor and mayoral aspirant Max Brough, she said the tree was on council land - but the NPDC would concede it straddled the public land and her property. Alana Brough had been battling the council over the giant pōhutukawa. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin Brough would have preferred a more aesthetically pleasing outcome. "I think it could've been sculptured and made a little bit smaller so it wasn't posing a risk to the power lines, but the fact the council wanted nothing to do with it meant it was really hard to come to a mutual resolution, so Powerco have then come in and done what they think is right, that doesn't mean to say that suits everyone's opinion as we're finding out." Brough said it was unclear if Powerco contractors would return to remove "the ugly stump", but if they didn't it would soon start to sprout again and at that point it could be maintained into a safer tree. Kirsty Porter lived across the road where she had a view from her living room of the tree her children had grown up playing in. She was not happy. Ballance Street resident Kirsty Porter's children grew up playing in the pōhutukawa. Photo: Supplied/ Kirsty Porter "I was shocked that was happening, that the entire tree was coming down rather than being trimmed. But here we are," Porter said. "It happened on the worst weather day in New Plymouth, which was also a surprise given that one of the reasons given ... was a safety issue with the tree. "I was grateful for the heavens actually, because I think they were proving a point that the tree shouldn't have been cut down completely." Mansvelt said there had to be a better way. "Looking at this case I feel that everybody could've compromised a bit more. I feel like there should be room for negotiation and there should be room for a discussion. "The council have admitted it was a grey area, it was questionably on their land, but just to carte blanche cut a tree down just makes no real sense. This is a 100-year-old tree." The stump of the pōhutukawa tree. Photo: RNZ/Robin Martin In a statement, New Plymouth District Council parks and open spaces manager Conrad Pattison was adamant that the council - with 3000 street trees and countless specimen trees in parks, reserves and on other land it administers - was not responsible for the Ballance Street pōhutukawa. "We didn't plant the tree, nor did we seek its removal. As it is primarily on private land and is not protected, the landowner can have it removed at their own cost." Meanwhile, Powerco said trees caused one in five power cuts on its electricity network each year. "Overgrown trees interfere with power lines and make it difficult for our crews to restore power, also in high winds and storms, branches blowing into power lines cause power outages." The lines company said tree owners were responsible for maintaining their trees and when a tree posed an immediate danger, Powerco must have consent from the tree owner to undertake mitigative action. "Trees that have a history of interrupting power supply and pose an ongoing risk to the network that have not [been] maintained according to tree owner obligations are assessed on a case-by-case basis. Tree owner consent to undertake mitigative actions is still required. "Regarding the pōhutukawa on Ballance Street, the decision to remove the tree was based on the balance of risk and impact to the electricity network." Powerco said through its Replant for Tomorrow initiative, it had an ongoing commitment to supporting native tree planting in communities on its network. "Last year, more than 18,000 trees were planted to help offset the trees that were removed from around the network that were growing too close to the power lines.". Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
