Cyclone Gabrielle: Hawke's Bay Orchardists Still Recovering
Three and a half years on from when Cyclone Gabrielle hit Hawke's Bay, some orchardists in the region are still receiving counselling to help them deal with the trauma they suffered.
This month a charity golf tournament was arranged by the organisers of the Rural Games in Palmerston North and about $13,000 was raised for the local Rural Support Trust.
Manawatu/Rangitikei Rural Support Trust chair and Tararua dairy farmer Murray Holdaway, says the tournament was a success.
He says farmers who are facing stress at the moment were the ultimate winners.
Some farmers and their families in Hawke's Bay remain cut off with bridges on local roads still down, along with bridges and tracks on propertes.
"Not too far from Palmerston North is the Pohangina Valley, which has been badly affected as well, so we have been helping a number of farmers up there," Holdaway told Dairy News.
"We have real issue out on the coast in the Tararua district, so we have been helping them also. These are mainly sheep and beef farmers and they are in a situation where they are something like 14 roads still not open and families have got no access in or out," he says.
Holdaway says the fact that roads are closed is a big worry because stock can't be taken off farm. He says while there are good pasture covers now, this will soon become scarce and getting in supplementary feed will be almost impossible.
He says it's clear people are currently running on adrenalin, getting up every day and shovelling away silt or repairing fences, yards and other infrastructure.
"But that can only go on for so long and then the enormity of the problem will really start to impact," he says.
Holdaway says the Rural Support Trust is looking at the best way to use the money raised from the golf tournament.
He says one suggestion is using the money to provide accommodation for farmers and their families to have a weekend away from the pressure and trials of their damaged properties.
He says the idea of a weekend away somewhere nice in the Manawatu/Rangitikei region is an option, but no final decision has been made in this regard.
"We want to get direct feedback from farmers in the worst hit areas and see what they would like us to do. If there is demand for it, we could do it," he says.
