It has now been more than a week since Cyclone Gabrielle ripped through Hawke’s Bay, taking a number of bridges out and leaving a number of rural communities completely isolated.
With no road access out of rural areas such as Patoka, Rissinagton, Tutira, and others, Rural Air Work and the TUMU Group have been working to get supplies out to some of the region’s most isolated farming communities.
Over the past few days tonnes of supplies have been packed into fertiliser planes and delivered.
Along with food, beer and basic supplies, the planes have been dropping off generators, water pumps, fuel, fencing for stock proofing as well as cat and dog food.
Following Cyclone Gabrielle the TUMU Group, which put $100,000 into a fund for the horticulture and agriculture sector, has been paying for the Rural Air Work flights.
Tumu Transport Limited business manager Bevan Hall said the key to using the planes was that dropping things off was efficient as they could carry double the weight of a normal helicopter.
Hall, who has been on a few air supply drops, said the communities were so happy and really thankful when they arrived.
“I think they are just stoked to see the rural communities are supporting their own and that people from the town are also supporting the rural communities,” Hall said.
The supplies that have been airdropped in so far have all been goods needed for survival and keeping the farms running.
This included stock-proof fencing to ensure that livestock stayed contained, more generators, water pumps, and dog and pet food to ensure working dogs were continuing to be fed, “anything you can think of we have dropped off.”
There were also large amounts of fuel being dropped off to keep vehicles, generators and water pumps going.
Rural Air Work pilots Alex McHardy and Josh Calder have been doing supply drops almost daily into isolated communities since finding out people were stranded.
They said while all supplies were welcome and needed, during his last few drops fuel had been one of the most appreciated supplies, with beer being a close second.
“Lots of diggers and tractors have been going hard out trying to clear farm tracks and access roads so they were starting to get low on fuel,” McHardy said.
The rural pilot explained farmers were doing whatever they could to get themselves access and were not waiting around for official help.
“They are doing what they have to do to keep their businesses going.
“You can see from the air there are guys with 50-year-old tractors out there pushing logs out of the way; life just goes on for them.
“Typical farmers you know have been given a shit sandwich and they are making a meal out of it,” Machardy said.
McHardy, who regularly flies over rural Hawke’s Bay for his job, said from the sky, “It’s a mess, they are some major slips, and there aren’t any hill farms that wouldn’t have been affected by the slips.”
A lot of fences were taken out by slips and McHardy said from the air it was easy to see where the water had left a lot of slashes in the gullies and up in the steeper hill county.
“It’s just sitting there ready to go when the next lot of rain comes through, he said.
The pilot said it was not all forestry slash.
“There are a lot of native bush slash and other plantations that have been taken out in slips where the ground underneath the plantation has just given way, and it’s all sitting in all the gullies.
“It’s actually a real worry.”
McHardy says much credit must go to the TUMU staff as the rural business couldn’t afford to do all these drops on their own.
“We are a business and we are going to be suffering from this as well because fertiliser is going to be the last thing on farmers’ minds for a long time so they [TUMU] are helping us out as well by paying for the flights.”
For the CHB-based company, it is more than just getting supplies to the isolated farmers, it’s getting crucial supplies to farmers who they regularly work with.
“It’s nice to be able to help our clients out,” McHardy said.
Rural Air Work and the TUMU Group are planning to continue doing drops for as long as they are needed and as long as they can afford to.
Local companies such as Ravensdown, Silver Fern Farms, a few agricultural supply businesses and many more have been donating supplies, time and money to help get the planes off the ground.
Others have also been donating money through the TUMU Group’s fund to support agriculture and horticulture after Cyclone Gabrielle.