Coordinated efforts to get support to farmers and growers affected by Cyclone Gabrielle have begun with truckloads of stock feed bound for the affected regions.
Orchards were left underwater, and farms have had large slips or were left with rock beds through themafter rivers burst their banks.
Some remote farming communities remain cut off so the extent of the damage is not yet known.
Fernhill grower Jonty Moffett lost everything as the Ngaruroro River backing onto his 200-ha property tore through huge stopbanks, letting the river tear a path of destruction through his orchards and home.
“It all kicked off about 8 or 9 am on Monday morning. The water moved so fast you didn’t really have a chance to think.”
Moffett used a jet ski to get to his employees and said the water was so high he had to duck under the power lines.
“For the orchard, in places, it’s total destruction, the water tore through so fast it’s knocked roots out of the ground and left silt metres deep. But there are other small pockets where the orchard looks the same as it did before.
“Trees are covered in silt so there will be no photosynthesis, the leaves are already turning brown ... those trees will die.”
The Hawke’s Bay grower said he had lost 90 per cent of his income streams and it will take seven years of hard graft to get the orchard back to normal.
He was dealing with the loss of everything in his home.
“Every day is getting better. Monday was rock bottom, Tuesday, she was good, I didn’t have water in my house, my paddocks were drained and my mates turned up, so yeah every day is getting a little bit better.
“The support we’ve had from friends family and the community has been amazing - it will get us through.”
Efforts to get help to farmers affected by the cyclone are ramping up.
Federated Farmers and MPI have launched a feed coordination service while smaller organisations have sent donated feed from the South Island.
New Zealand Apples and Pears has set up a website where growers can list the help they need while others can offer equipment, staff and other resources.
Up the Taihape-Napier Road, the force of the storm is evident. The road has given way in places, there are large slips and cars are abandoned in paddocks.
Tom Lane, a sheep and beef farmer near Waiwhare, suffered a lot of damage to his place but said he was very lucky compared to others.
“Woke up on Tuesday morning to a bit of rain but I wasn’t overly worried, it wasn’t until I looked down at the Tutaekuri River which is about 80 metres below us to see how our pump shed was doing and I could only see 30 centimetres of the roof above the river.
“That’s what tipped us off that it wasn’t just a normal rain event.”
When things calmed down Lane went around his farm to assess the situation.
Slips on hills by the Taihape-Napier Road. Photo / RNZ / Sally Murphy
“The stock were all safe but there are slips everywhere, all the fencing we had just done was gone, the tracks have been washed away... I reckon we’ve lost about 40 hectares of hill country.”
Power and phone coverage remain out - but Lane said the main issue with the pump shed out of action is getting fresh water.
“All of our water comes from a bore under the river and it’s then pumped up the hill so we have a series of problems. There’s no power to run anything, even if we did slips have taken out the pipe that goes up the hill, and even if that was still there the pump shed is under a couple metres of silt.”
Lane was at his neighbours’ place pumping fresh water into large tanks for his home and young family.
“We’re okay up here, we have generators, we have a good vege garden and can always kill a lamb. It wasn’t until I went into town that I saw how horrific some places are - seeing the dead stock is really hard.”
Tom Lane, a sheep and beef farmer near Waiwhare, went to neighbours to fill tanks with fresh water after his pump station was knocked out of action in the cyclone. Photo / RNZ / Sally Murphy
The neighbours, Suz Bremner and her husband Campbell who farm sheep and beef, also count themselves as lucky. Standing on their farm there is a flurry of helicopters moving up and down the valley below taking supplies to cut off communities.
But their farm hasn’t escaped damage - a small road which runs through it has had a huge pile of forestry slash deposited all over it.
“Above us is the Kaweka Forest and what we think has happened is, as well as slash, there’s been a few slips up there,” Suz Bremner said.
“There’s a tiny stream that comes down, and all this slash has washed down that stream and dammed and then all of a sudden about 4 am on Tuesday morning it gave way - and it was just a massive torrent.”
The couple used tractors to push the wood aside so the road was passable.
“There’s been no reports of stock losses up here so that’s a relief, but the best thing is how the community has pulled together.
“Farmers have been using their tractors to clear roads and farm tracks and I don’t think I’ve spoken to so many locals in a long time - so yeah, out of such a sad event there are nice stories coming out of it. "
“Hopefully we’ll get power soon but we just don’t know.”
