Greymouth still has homeless

Press, 24 September 1988, Page 2

Greymouth still has homeless

PA Greymouth The civil defence emergency in Greymouth was lifted last evening but about half the 400 people evacuated during last week’s flood are still homeless.

The borough’s civil defence controller, Mr Norman Shultze, said the town area was beginning to return to normal. About 80 per cent of businesses are open again. “What we are doing now is obtaining an accurate account of the nonresidential buildings that were flooded and establishing how many were flooded as opposed to the May flood,” he said. “This will be helpful information for engineering purposes.” A big task now facing the Greymouth Borough Council and the Housing Corporation was . the rehousing of people unable to return to their flood-damaged homes. About 30 residents have advised the corporation they do not wish to move and many homes are uninhabitable.

Almost 50 big L.P.G. gas blow heaters that have been brought to Greymouth from Christchurch are being used to dry sodden homes. Bedding and heaters are still being sought by civil defence welfare volunteers for flood victims returning to their homes. Greymouth borough and regional civil defence emergency personnel are expected to hold separate debriefing sessions next week to identify problems that occurred during the emergencies. The cost of the exercise is being examined. The West Coast United Council’s principal officer, Mr David Stapleton, said the Government reimbursed expenditure on accommodation, transport, clothing and feeding of flood victims but the local and regional authorities

had to foot a third of the bill for the hire of equipment such as jetboats. The southern regional commissioner of civil defence, Mr Ron Pilbrough, was on the West Coast yesterday talking with the local authorities involved in the emergency. The council yesterday received $200,000 of the $313,000 available from the Government for the disaster recovery employment scheme. This is to be distributed to local authorities employing people under the scheme. The West Coast Flood Relief Fund continued to soar and by late yesterday morning pledges, grants and cash contributions totalled $120,332. The assistance given to flood victims by the community has been praised by. welfare volunteers.