Cyclone Gabrielle: Mount Maunganui RSA donates $18,000 to Red Cross Disaster Fund

The members of the Mount Maunganui Returned and Services’ Association (RSA) can’t travel to Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti to help with cyclone recovery physically, so they have done the next best thing — donate money.

Through four entities - the RSA, its welfare trust, the village trust and the women’s section - it donated $18,000 to the Red Cross New Zealand Disaster Fund following ex-tropical cyclone Gabrielle in February.

Mount Maunganui RSA president Arthur King said the money wasn’t “sitting around”, but its members wanted to do something to help.

“We can’t physically go down there and help them, and financially everyone is stretched, but we’re supporting them as much as we can.”

Ex-tropical cyclone Gabrielle caused a wave of destruction as it moved southeast along the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island between February 12 and 14.

Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti were the worst-hit regions, with landslides and flooding wiping out homes, roads and businesses and causing mass power outages.

Mount Maunganui RSA president Arthur King. Photo / Alex Cairns

Across the country, 11 people lost their lives in circumstances related to Gabrielle.

King said the RSA members were shocked to see the devastation caused by the severe weather event.

“My son lives in Australia, and I’ve seen people get rescued off rooftops, but I never thought I’d see it in New Zealand.

“When you’re seeing IRBs rescue people from rooftops, you think, ‘What’s the world coming to?’ It’s an awful lot of rain in a short amount of time.”

Last week, Hawke’s Bay Today reported local and central government agencies were working through hundreds of applications for relief grants, many of which were from Hawke’s Bay farmers, households and organisations.

By the end of March, the Hawke’s Bay Disaster Relief Fund had distributed $1.7 million across 2680 households and 50 community groups and marae, according to Hawke’s Bay Regional Council.

The Red Cross has so far committed $3.18m from its disaster fund, including $1m to the relief fund this month.

King said once authorities knew which people and places needed the funding the most, the money would come.

“There was a bit of a discussion [internally] about where [the $18,000] should go, but we believe the Red Cross will be most beneficial.

“It will go to the right places.”

It supported individuals, community groups and marae that suffered financial losses as a result of the cyclone.

A house on Shaw Rd in Esk Valley, pictured on February 16, 2023. Photo / Warren Buckland

The fund was being used to help flood-affected people in Hawke’s Bay replace home contents, clothes and furnishings, and also to make small payments to compensate for lost income.

As part of the response, members of the Tauranga Aero Club including former Tauranga mayor Tenby Powell flew donations into the cyclone-ravaged areas.

After a call was put out to members, bags and boxes of essential supplies were donated, and they came in thick and fast, quickly taking up half of its clubrooms.

The Rotorua Aero Club also flew plane-loads of supplies into Hawke’s Bay to help support the local response effort after Cyclone Gabrielle.

Teams delivered food and other necessities that had been collected through a combined effort by the Waiariki Women’s Refuge Rotorua, Rotorua Whakaora and Rotorua Aero Club.

The goods flown in from Rotorua went to supporting RSE (Recognised Seasonal Employer) workers from flood-damaged orchards, and some supplies were also dropped off at the Civil Defence community hub at Tomoana Showgrounds Hawke’s Bay in Hastings.