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With other milk company depots under water it was left to the farmer-owned co-operative and the Hawke's Bay Anchor franchisees to keep deliveries going.
Electricity was out, so fresh milk wasn't always an option. Enter Anchor franchisees for the region, Vaughan Petzer and Neil Cahill and their team.
Working closely with Fonterra Brands NZ staff, Petzer has been receiving and delivering ultra heat treated (UHT) milk, grated cheese, yoghurt, flavoured milk, infant formula and even bacon and eggs to the Hawke's Bay community.
In the days after the floods, Fonterra Brands sourced eight pallets (8 tonnes) of UHT milk for delivery to stricken Hawke's Bay residents with the help of Civil Defence and Rapid Relief Team (RRT).
Petzer told Dairy News that the real heroes are his staff who just kept going day and night for the first week, community volunteers, the New Zealand Civil Defence, RTT and Fonterra Brands NZ, plus the other local and national businesses that donated time, energy and product.
"They are some real heroes out there," he says.
"Despite everything, the community came together and pitched in to help us overcome the challenges.
“There was one man who had lost everything; his family was rescued from the rooftop of their house a day earlier.
“He was out the next day making coffee and toasties for everyone, at no charge.
“It was inspiring to see how the community had stepped up.”
Petzer says he woke up on the morning of Tuesday February 14 to find his home and depot in Hastings without power and water.
He managed to “commandeer” a big generator for the depot.
Petzer gave two refrigerated Anchor delivery trucks and a Fonterra delivery van to Civil Defence and joined volunteers at the collection centre.
He says it was all part of a great team effort.
Petzer says Fonterra Brands staff played their role by sourcing milk and other products from around the North Island for the region.
He also thanked businesses in the region for supporting the effort.
“Because we were busy providing support to civil defence, Aged Care and evacuation centres, we couldn’t deliver milk and products to some retailers who managed to stay open,” he says.
“They were happy to come down to our depot and collect products themselves.
“We had a customer at our depot every six minutes. There were a few supermarket owners who came down to collect milk to service their communities. In my view, such people from our communities and helping organisations are the real heroes.”
