“I think one thing that has come out of this whole thing - and lots of areas are the same - is the community spirit, it is just beautiful. We are all there for each other,” she said.
Mary Danielson shows an area inside the pub where damaged walls have been pulled up. Photo / Paul Taylor
“We have a lot of people around here that have lost everything - their businesses, their orchards, their houses - it is awful.
“But there is that real strength of just getting on with it.”
Floodwaters reached above knee height inside The Puketapu during the cyclone.
“The fridges and freezers were floating in the kitchen, in the bar there was glassware floating around the place, everything was floating everywhere,” she said.
“The whole pub got done, everything has had to be pulled up and we lost a lot of the stuff inside.”
She said they were insured and labourers as well as The Puketapu staff had been doing great work in getting it fixed up.
She said there would be a “big opening” for locals, and then for all customers when it reopened.
Mary said “it’s a horrible feeling” being cut off from Puketapu South, as that bridge had washed away, and she could not wait to see that community and others nearby like Dartmoor and Rissington reconnected.
The Danielsons, whose home was not damaged, have been helping distribute goods and donations during the flood recovery.
