Image caption from left: Sonya's neighbour's house; Dried silt caked on footpaths in Wairoa; Sonya's daughter, Amiria, helping to deliver 793 meals to families in storm affected homes and to volunteer clean up crews,
Raglan resident Sonya Drysdale is from Ngā Nūhaka and spent the first 40 years of her life living in the Wairoa district. Having visited her whānau in Wairoa following Cyclone Gabrielle, she describes a community heavily impacted amid the devastation left in the cyclone’s wake.
Sonya’s mother and daughter live in Wairoa and when the cyclone hit a month ago, Wairoa was completely cut off from the rest of the country, with bridges and roads destroyed, no power and no communication with the rest of the world.
“We lost comms for about four days completely. After that we could have 10-20 second phone calls if my daughter stood on a chair in her uncle’s kitchen with a Vodafone phone.”
Working at Xtreme Zero Waste, Sonya has been coordinating with Civil Defence to organise a delivery of donated items to Wairoa residents. With most of the main roads closed, access to the East Coast has presented a number of logistical difficulties with most items having to be flown in.
“It took about two weeks before we could get there.” Says Sonya, describing a precarious journey through a closed road via Waikaremoana, pushing boulders off the road and dodging slips along the way.
(Listen to the full interview below:)
Once on the ground, Sonya saw some of the worst affected areas in Wairoa.
“I cried. It was like a warzone. All the green is gone, everything looks dead and there’s dust everywhere. Our kaumatua flats, all the doors are gone. It was just a bizarre situation to come upon.”
Wairoa is described as a town of ‘two halves’ with a bridge separating the northern and southern parts of the town. With so many waterways and rivers feeding into the Wairoa River, the amount of rain caused the river bank to breach on the northern side of town at around 6am in the morning.
The North Clyde side of Wairoa was completely flooded out and destroyed, including an area of land around Sonya’s marae, where she is from.
“We have about 140 families who are affected heavily and displaced.”
Many houses have been yellow and red stickered so these families have lost their homes and have nowhere to go. With accommodation at a premium, families are staying at maraes, in farmer’s sheds and spare garages.
While power has been restored to the town centre, there are still areas in the district with no power, no road access and limited communication.
“We’ve got people who can’t access their work, the basics, medical supplies, limited supplies of everything.”
The road closures are having a huge impact on the community with caregivers and elderly unable to access health services in Hawke’s Bay due to the long detour and lack of transport. Sonya tells of pregnant women being flown to Hawke’s Bay Hospital to give birth and having to drive 10 hours to get home with a newborn baby in the initial weeks after the cyclone.
“The bridges and roads are completely gone. It’s not like we aren’t getting any help, it’s just so many places that need help all at once. To get labour and infrastructure to all these places is just so difficult.”
Organisations from around the country are fundraising for various recovery efforts and Sonya has been busy connecting local Raglan organisations with those on the East Coast to direct funding to specific areas.
“Nūhaka School is a year 0-8 school with a bilingual unit. They were flooded out so the kids are being separated out and I’ve connected the principal from Raglan Area School with them. They are going to directly support Nūhaka School to get their schooling back on track.”
Shifting from the short-term needs to long-term recovery efforts for the area, Sonya says it’s difficult to gauge how long it will take for things to get back to normal.
“Many of them are just living day to day. Their lives are so heavily impacted, it’s crazy.“
Houses affected by flooding are now being moisture tested with residents uncertain of insurance timeframes and whether houses will be rebuilt in the same areas.
With her sights set on supporting mid to long term recovery efforts, Sonya is planning to return to Wairoa soon. In the meantime, she is organising a number of fundraising efforts locally in Raglan for families who don’t have insurance.