Stay indoors: Eskdale School’s plan to keep kids safe as silt dust threat emerges

Silica dust in the Esk Valley is affecting nearby residents. Photo / Warren Buckland

Eskdale School is planning to keep pupils indoors as silt deposits from the Esk Valley blow through the area in huge clouds of dust.

While health and regional authorities test for air quality, westerly winds whipped silt from the ground on Monday and there are fears that could worsen when the equinoctial gales arrive in the coming weeks.

Much of the valley floor remains uninhabited, as a result of Cyclone Gabrielle, but the school site is in a higher-lying area.

“We are monitoring the wind direction and making a daily call as to whether it is safe for our students to be outside during break times,” Eskdale principal Tristan Cheer said.

“Students have already had some days where they have not been able to use the bottom field, which is more exposed to the wind and therefore dust and silt.

“We are prepared for the prospect that some days will be spent totally indoors.”

Air quality in Esk Valley is being monitored. Photo / Warren Buckland

Cheer says the school is trying to get more air purifiers.

“The cyclone is the gift that keeps on giving us new challenges,” said Cheer.

“It is certainly something we could do without, as we rebuild our school and wider community, but we are a resilient bunch and will get over this hurdle too, although I think the silt challenge will be with us for some time.

“We can only hope the council will work at speed to remedy the problem.”

Esk Valley resident Steve Wheeler says the horse has bolted on that one. He began contacting Te Whatu Ora and Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, among others, soon after the cyclone hit in February.

Piles of silt surround Steve Wheeler's uninhabitable Esk Valley home. Photo / Warren Buckland

With an El Nino weather pattern forecast, Wheeler suggested the Esk Valley be seeded in grass during winter to help knit the soil together.

“So many of us put our hands up and said ‘you’ve got to address this’,” Wheeler said.

The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and Te Whatu Ora yesterday advised the young, elderly and those with respiratory problems to be particularly cautious in windy conditions.

Asked to elaborate today, the regional council pointed to the release in which its policy and regulation group manager Katrina Brunton encouraged the public to be cautious around people operating heavy machinery on windy days and report those generating significant dust to a pollution hotline.

On the coast, at Whirinaki, the only machinery being operated by residents Lynn and Art Noanoa is a leaf blower. It’s removing silt deposits from windows and doorways.

The view from the Noanoa's Whirinaki home towards Esk Valley. Photo / Warren Buckland

“We were sitting in the caravan during the big storm [on Monday] and we couldn’t see our loo. That’s how thick it was,” Lynn Noanoa said yesterday.

Their property is categorised 2C, so the caravan is actually home and the loo is of the portable variety and sits across the street. Showers are taken at Art’s work.

“So we just sit here languishing. It’s 217 days, not that I’m counting,” said Lynn.

“Look at the house, you wouldn’t even think it had flooded and yet the water came in over the fence.”

Flood water swamped Lynn and Art Noanoa's Whirinaki home in February. Photo / Warren Buckland

The couple say Art’s asthma symptoms are already worsening, despite them wearing masks on windy days.

“We’ll just wear masks and keep the windows closed and stay inside when the equinox does her thing,” Lynn said.

Hamish Bidwell joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2022 and works out of the Hastings newsroom.