Mr Ashcroft works dawn to dusk on the ongoing clean-up. There is no shortage of jobs to do - mud still stains what used to be a laundry room, there is a large landscaping effort to be put in. But at least his property is no longer under a foot of mud.
The storm that wiped out Mr Ashcroft's business also caused millions of dollars of damage to our coastal communities and farms. It hit on April 26 and 27 and was the worst weather event to strike Hawke's Bay since Cyclone Bola in March 1988.
In fact, some areas were hit harder in April than they were by Bola. Curiously, there were residents in Hastings who did not know what all the fuss was about. They had been spared the storm, which came down the East Coast, headed across the water of Hawke Bay, hitting land again at Te Awanga and Clifton and swamping everything in its path down the coast through Ocean Beach, Waimarama, and Pourerere.
As we reported in our Year in Review series on Monday this week, some areas of coastal Hawke's Bay experienced rainfall of over 600mm in less than 48 hours, even more intense than Bola.
Imagine how much worse the damage would have been for our region if this storm had also taken out the Heretaunga Plains.
Meanwhile, out at Waimarama, Mr Ashcroft continues the repair work, day by day. "I'll just carry on. You don't give up. Well, I don't anyway."
