Tahiti flood damage costly

PAPEETE – French Polynesia’s assembly has approved US$8 million in funds to help rebuild parts of Tahiti badly damaged by floods before Christmas.

Torrential rain in the eastern part of the island left a man dead in Papenoo, destroyed 75 homes, and badly damaged 100 more.

A government minister, Jean-Christophe Bouissou, says water supply remains an issue in the affected area and the government is working to help local mayors.

He says the money approved by the assembly will help provide building supplies to those who need to repair or rebuild their homes.

However, he says some families will have to relocate permanently.

“So we’ll probably ask some of the families not to live anymore nearby these rivers because we know that when we have very hard rain like we’ve been having last week they could have problems in the future.”

Bouissou says the eight million dollars comes from the French Polynesian budget, although France has supplied a small amount. - PNC