The Hits: Cyclone Gabrielle has left me admiring the people of our region

The Hits DJ Adam Green

OPINION

Over a month has now passed since Valentine’s Day 2023. A day that will forever be etched in the minds of the people of Hawke’s Bay, as so many found their lives turned upside down and their day-to-day normality ripped from under them in such an abrupt and awful way.

The month seems to have felt both endless, and very quick in the same instance, a strange phenomenon, and one that seems to happen in times of stress or uncertainty and in times the everyday normal is taken away.

Those days without power seem so long ago, and yet it’s nearly unbelievable a month has passed since our homes were plunged into darkness and the barbeques got the workout of a lifetime.

I think I, like many people, sometimes have moments when I feel like I could be doing more, a sort of survivor’s guilt,

“I should be on a shovel somewhere” or “I need to be out there this weekend” will often pop up. Sometimes I need to remind myself I also have three daughters who have been through their own version of this, and that by spending time with them on the weekend I’m still helping, in a way.

The stories we have heard on The Hits Hawke’s Bay have been nothing short of inspirational. From people organising a network of washing machines and helpers to clean silted clothes to incredible tales of bravery of people being right in the floodwater in those early hours, swimming neighbours to safety through the upper branches of orchard trees now destroyed.

We’ve heard heartbreaking and open and honest tales of the losses people have endured, like farewelling loved pets, and of course, the agonizing loss of human life.

But one thing stands strong and true, from the very beginning through the last four weeks, and that is an overwhelming sense of community.

The community has come together in ways never seen before, neighbours helping strangers, Marae full of life, laughter, and hope, and the incredible networks of people in our more isolated rural communities bringing food, supplies, and smiles to those that truly needed it the most.

It’s changed the landscape of Hawke’s Bay in the most devastating way, but it has made me admire the people, and the spirit of our beautiful region in a way that will change my perspective forever.

Māku e kii atu, he tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata. What is the most important thing in the world? Well, let me tell you, it is people, it is people, it is people.