"Oh, people's belongings are now just lying in soggy heaps in front of their houses: all the furniture and everything, the beds, the carpets, the linoleum, the floor insulation, the junk inside, it's really unforgiving."
The city's landfill is already bursting at the seams after Cyclone Gabrielle and there are huge costs involved in transporting waste to other landfills, he said.
Taxpayers were already threatened with a 20% increase in the tax rate.
Little said the community could not afford the cost of the cleanup and he would ask the government for help.
Recovery and Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell has already announced the government will donate $300,000 to the Mayor's Relief Fund to help the communities of Hastings , Wairoa and Tai Rāwhiti.
He will address Cabinet this week and ask for additional funding to support the city's cleanup and reconstruction.
Napier MP Katie Nimon previously said the government was working with insurers and the local council to find out how best to help people.
"It's really important for us to see what insurance policies cover and what they don't.
"Ministers are working very hard to present a document to Cabinet to get as much as possible to start the clean-up work so the council knows what can be done without having to worry about where it goes ."
-RNZ
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