tower was reinforced in 1879 to provide greater stability after a storm damaged it. The Wairoa Borough Council was established in 1909. The Napier to Wairoa railway line was started in 1911. Progress was intermittent with the Wairoa river railway bridge being built in 1930. The railway line was completed in 1937. In April 1938, flooding hit the area, causing hundreds of slips which damaged the railway line. Work to restore the railway took place and it was opened again for trains by the end of 1938 and fully utilised by 1939. This led to a decline in the use of the port at Wairoa, with the port used for the last time in 1942. The Wairoa Harbour Board was subsequently abolished in 1946. Wairoa was home to a double murder in 1942 when Annie and Rosamond Smyth were killed in their home in the Salvation Army Hall in Wairoa. No one was ever charged with their murders at the time. Herbert Brunton was murdered in 1948 and this was also unsolved until Leo Silvester Hannan made a death bed confession to the crimes in 1962 while in prison serving a sentence for another murder. The first bridge across the Wairoa river was built in 1888. It was subsequently damaged in the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake. A replacement bridge was built and this was completed in 1933. It was destroyed by Cyclone Bola in 1988. The third bridge was completed and officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990. Modern history In early March 1988, much of the North Island was severely affected by storm damage from Cyclone Bola. In Wairoa, three days of heavy rain in the catchment areas caused severe flooding and damage including the loss of a 60-metre section of town's main bridge, cutting the town in half, and interrupting phone lines and the town's water supply. There was severe flood damage to farms, businesses, homes and the showgrounds. In 1990 Wairoa won the last New Zealand Top Town Final in the original Top Town series and were the reigning champs until the series started again in 2009. Due to some confusion with a claim by Greymouth to be the last champions, Wairoa was not eligible for the new top town series and unable to defend their title. There have long been tensions between the rival Mongrel Mob and Black Power gangs in Wairoa. In 1988, Wairoa's