A meeting at the Putorino Fire Station three days after Cyclone Gabrielle. Max Tweedie says they punched through slips to connect people together. Photo / Supplied / Max Tweedie
A meeting at the Putorino Fire Station three days after Cyclone Gabrielle. Max Tweedie says they punched through slips to connect people together. Photo / Supplied / Max Tweedie
Families on a Hawke’s Bay station are adjusting to their new normal as they remain cut off from the outside world and without power.
Kokopuru Station, which sits between Tutira and Putorino, normally winters about 10,000 stock units including 550 stud Angus cowsand 3000 crossbred ewes - it also has a dairy farm.
Farmer Max Tweedie said waking up to Cyclone Gabrielle felt like the world was crashing down around him.
“We got out of bed that morning and it was like someone had taken to the hills with a knife and sort of gouged at the land - it was still shifting and oozing.
“Basically, we were safe in terms of houses and buildings, infrastructure but we lost big quantities of our easterly and westerly facing steep faces.”
About 30 per cent of the farms’ steep country had slipped, Tweedie estimated.
The station had lost huge amounts of fencing to slips, its water sources and culverts washed away and the roads linking it to the outside world had become unpassable - the main issue for those living there.
“The Waikari Bridge is gone, we have a couple of other accesses, first through State Highway 2 or the Devil’s Elbow Road, that’s actually closed a few times this year so that’s really vulnerable and remains closed and then another through forestry tracks but outside of that we are very limited by road.”
Damage on a station road after Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Supplied / Max Tweedie
Key supplies like food and water were being dropped by plane to the seven families on the station.
“We have plenty of supplies for the homes. The issue going forward is going to be getting heavier farm equipment needed for repairs in and the main problem is getting stock trucks in and out.”
Tweedie said he was nervous about not getting stock out as he would normally be sending 600 lambs off-farm this week.
Slips can be seen in the distance at Kokopuru Station. Photo / Supplied / Max Tweedie
“We’d budgeted for that and you know we’ve had a really damp summer and little sunshine hours over the last three months so the lambs haven’t performed that well.”
“So in anticipation of falling schedule, we decided to hold lambs on and get them a bit heavier so as a result, we’ve got a lot of lambs on. So we’re just nervous in anticipation of winter if we can’t get things out now, the issue is going to compile.”
Tweedie said they had been doing what they could to clear roads and had been in touch with Waka Kotahi about creating access simply for stock movement.
“We’ve been putting some pressure on just to get some dispensation for at least track-only access for stock trucks because it’s going to become an animal welfare risk. If we get short on feed it’s not like we can bring baleage or hay in.”
“We just need to know if the Waikari Bridge is going to be a long-term fix if they can put a Bailey bridge in and then if that can carry the weight of stock trucks. Unless we have some sort of access there’s no way of getting stock north.”
Landslips on the hills of Kokopuru Station. Photo / Supplied / Max Tweedie
“There’s been some fun parts of being cut off. We all got to know our neighbours a bit better again so that was kinda cool. There was a bit of camaraderie but the adrenaline is starting to wear off,” he said.
“I think a bit of shock is starting to settle in for some people here and we’re all trying to figure out the new normal but we just need to carry on and keep chatting to each other, even though we are isolated. Individuals can isolate themselves further so we need to watch that.”
