Flood damage in the Esk Valley in Hawke's Bay after Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton
Owners of more than 350 cyclone-hit properties in Hawke's Bay can start rebuilding after being rezoned to low-risk category 1.
Stopbank repairs meant 193 houses in Ōmahu, and 173 in the Meeanee-Awatoto area were protected enough to move categories.
The properties had been in Category 2C, meaning councils could manage the risk of future flooding once they repaired and strengthened the relevant protection schemes.
The Hawke's Bay Regional Council said the stopbanks were now as good as they were before Cyclone Gabrielle, which meant they could withstand a one in 100 year storm.
Council chairperson Hinewai Ormsby said that was thanks to tireless work from staff and contractors over about 7km of stopbanks.
The property owners now had a way forward, she said.
"They're able to get on with their lives, they're able to rebuild with no risk really in terms of their insurance, and their certainty going forward," she said.
"We would expect today some very happy families and residents in those areas."
But there would be more severe weather on the horizon - and Cyclone Gabrielle was a one in 500 year event, which was why the stopbanks could not cope.
Ormsby said that meant the standard of protection had to lift across the country to keep people safe in future floods.
"We need to be building stronger, we need to have wider, higher stopbanks, but also flood protection that looks at spillway areas and widening for rivers."
The council needed government funding to make that happen, Ormsby said.
There would be more of the same movements from category 2C to category 1 in the next few weeks, she said.
All stopbank breach repairs on the Tūtaekurī and Ngaruroro rivers were complete, and the council was also working on repairs on Central Hawke's Bay rivers.
