Pitching in to help when it matters

Seeing the destruction brought a few tears, writes

I am often inspired and uplifted by the true sense of community our farmers and growers have for each other.

As I reflect upon spending a few days in the Hawke’s Bay recently, there is no doubt this adverse event and national state of emergency are among the very worst this country has ever experienced (if not the worst).

It is important to remember that whilst the Hawke’s Bay was affected the hardest, there are isolated pockets of communities from Northland, Auckland, Coromandel, Gisborne, Wairoa, Tararua, Wairarapa, and significant damage in Manawatu.

This goes across 25 territorial authorities, multiple branches of support agencies like Rural Support Trust, and lots of organisations wanting to help and make a difference.

Having lived through the Christchurch earthquakes in 2010-11, resulting in my family losing our house, I can completely relate to the shock, vulnerability, exhaustion, and fear of not knowing how you can “get through this” feels like.

I will admit to shedding a few tears when seeing the devastation through the Dartmoor Valley where there were no people, and an almost-lunar scene devoid of anything above ground level because everything was covered in a layer of silt and whole orchards had disappeared.

On one of the mornings Federated Farmers provincial sales and engagement adviser Salli Baldock, Feds Hawke’s Bay president Jim Galloway and I, alongside Beef + Lamb CEO Sam McIvor and a couple of his local team, went to meet with a group of farmers in Otane (Central Hawke’s Bay). One of the farmers I knew quite well, and I asked him how his place was affected.

He owns a large, high-value-crop arable farm and he explained that of his 740ha property, all but 20ha was still under water 10 days after the fateful night the Cyclone hit. Luckily, his house and main implement shed were spared. He was more concerned about the damage to some of his neighbours who are dealing with animals cut off in inaccessible paddocks, local roading, and what impact further rain would have.

I am often inspired and uplifted by the true sense of community our farmers and growers have for each other. They all pitch in to help each other when it really matters. This pragmatic approach and simply rolling your sleeves up and get stuff done is their way of coping.

The number of bridges destroyed across the North Island may end up in the hundreds.

The forestry slash across the Hawke’s Bay beaches is quite extreme, and obviously up in Tairawhiti this is an ongoing issue. However, it’s not all forestry slash.

The bridge at Rissington was swept away due to whole trees planted as part of the riparian plantings along the riverbanks. Weeds building up on riverbanks have grown significantly across the Hawke’s Bay due to stock being fenced off and no longer are these weeds grazed and kept under control. This added to river levels flowing at a higher rate in many instances along with the lack of shingle removal raising the bottom of the river plains. This is a regional council responsibility, and we saw this from the Canterbury flooding in 2020, so no excuses . . .

Concerns were raised on the lack of information people were able to access when everything except battery-operated radios were rendered useless. Why wasn’t national radio used to convey information that help was coming, which areas were affected and what was being done?

That’s one of many issues I have brought back to Wellington about the lack of a “Civil Defence radio”. The lack of information about who was cut off, and where. Another was the military grounding private helicopter companies from making crucial food and medicine drops as they wanted to have clear skies for themselves and could handle the situation. Why didn’t they simply bring these helicopters and pilots under their command and cover a greater area much more quickly?

The vital roading infrastructure is going to take a long time to fix.

In Christchurch, the roading system took 10 years to fix the affected roads and that was in just one (large) geographic location. Its decisions like those that need to be made ahead of serious recovery projects getting underway.