Nancy Kareroa-Yorke of Northland Red Cross helps set up a bed for evacuated families in the Whakatane Memorial Hall.
PHOTO/SUPPLIED
Nancy Kareroa-Yorke of Northland Red Cross helps set up a bed for evacuated families in the Whakatane Memorial Hall.
PHOTO/SUPPLIED
A team of Red Cross volunteers from Whangarei is on standby to help flood-stricken families in Auckland and the Bay of Plenty where some are being sheltered in evacuation centres.
Red Cross Northland community services' manager Nancy Kareroa-Yorke said if called, the team may initially help out in Auckland whereproperties have been flooded and schools closed.
She said the volunteers could also be asked to help bring families to the Whakatane Memorial Hall, where an evacuation centre had been set up.
Mrs Kareroa-Yorke was in Whakatane this week where she helped with the logistics of getting people to the evacuation centre and referred flood-affected families to counselling.
She left for Whakatane on Monday and was expected to return last night. She said between 60 and 70 people were in the temporary shelter about 4pm on Thursday but she expected more people to arrive on Friday. and today. "Our team will be out door knocking people in coastal areas such as Ohope and asking them to self evacuate so we expect more people as we head into the weekend," she said on Thursday.
She was part of a Red Cross team that visited a local marae on Thursday morning to discuss a local iwi plan to clean up flooded areas in Edgecumbe today.On April 7, Whangarei Red Cross volunteers Steve and Bev Harwood, Victoria Randall and Rene Kalkoff spent three days helping set up the evacuation centre in Whakatane.
