Rail tracks covered in silt in the Esk Valley by flooding during Cyclone Gabrielle, 20 February. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham
Silt and debris removal in Hawke's Bay has slowed by half as funding runs short, with a million cubic metres left to move.
Silt recovery taskforce lead Darren de Klerk said they had received $44 million from the government in May to remove silt and woody debris.
But good weather in August sped up the work - de Klerk said if contractors kept going at this pace, the council risked burning through their funding by the end of September.
He said there were still 200-plus jobs in the system, equal to more than a million cubic metres of silt yet to be collected.
It was not just silt - horticulture, agriculture and viticulture debris made up a chunk of it, with things like reflective matting, posts and wire and woody debris included in that figure.
But with funding running low, de Klerk said the roughly 40 contractors had been asked to slow down while further funding was confirmed - but there would not be certainty around this until later in September.
"What we've done is essentially given them a capped value for September which they can't exceed the budget."
If they did run over budget, the council would be left to foot the bill.
"That's the risk, is that the council will be left as the bank, or the agency taking on the debt, and obviously given the state the councils are finding themselves in in Hawke's Bay, that's a pretty tough position to be in," de Klerk said.
Property owners could still request a collection through the council, de Klerk said, but might not get a date for collection confirmed.
"We haven't closed the collection because it gives us a really good picture around what's out there, and helps with our advocating for what collections still need to happen."
