Marlborough Recovery Update #23, Friday 24 March 2023

Manaroa Beef and Lamb field day feedback

It was standing room only in the woolshed at picturesque Manaroa Farm for the B+LNZ Farming for Profit Programme Field Day.

More than 110 people attended from as far away as Murchison, Wakefield and Kaikoura, which was a record-breaking day for the Farming for Profit Programme.

Participants listened to a range of expert speakers including Ginny Dodunski talking about parasites and animal health issues, Dr Ants Roberts on soil science and fertiliser and Murray Behrent from the Alliance Group with a market update and potential opportunities.

Councillor Barbara Faulls also provided an update on the Marlborough Sounds Future Access Study.

Manaroa farm owner Josh Jamieson gave a brief history of Manaroa and spoke about current management systems and the challenges of farming in the Kenepuru and Pelorus Sound. After the devastating 2021/2022 winter rainfall with consequent damage to the main Kenepuru Road, logistical challenges had been enormous he said.

Ellie Cranswick from the Farming for Profit Programme, said there was very positive feedback from farmers, who enjoyed learning about the challenges of farming in the Sounds, particularly those visiting from outside of the area.

“They have taken inspiration from the locals’ passion to continue on through the adversity they are facing,” she said. “In turn, Sounds farmers appreciated that other farmers wanted to visit and show support which will hopefully strengthen the community networks further.”

Recovery Navigator Charlotte Wood attended and caught up with locals to see how they’re doing.

“Thank you to everyone who came along, supporting the day and the local community and a big thank you to the hosts for the day, Josh Jamieson and his family,” she said.

Marlborough volunteers help with North Island relief effort

A number of Marlborough emergency responders were seconded to the North Island in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle including several Marlborough District Council staff.

Council’s data analyst Rachel Baggs spent two weeks based in Hastings helping with the relief effort - her role is in intelligence, and she worked 12 hour days helping with the flow of information, verifying it and passing it on to the wider effort.

“Obviously there was a lot going on and we were dealing with the impact of what had happened plus the heightened anxiety from people when it started raining again – there was a lot of intel coming in,” she said. “The effort was turning to how can we support people and prepare for the recovery.”

Rachel was surprised at the number of people involved in the response and recovery efforts. “It was a very supportive and well organised group – lots of local people as well as people from outside the region,” she said.

Rachel said she learned a huge amount – not only during her official worktime but during down time as all the volunteers stayed together. “It never stopped really as you were mixing with other volunteers and swapping information informally,” she said. “It was a hugely valuable experience and strengthened the relationship between councils as well as group partnerships – for example with the defence force. I feel it will improve our own preparedness for such an event.”

Public information critical for affected homeowners in Auckland

Council’s communications manager Glyn Walters spent last week in Auckland where his efforts were directed to the recovery operation in Muriwai, Piha and Karekare.

“The cyclone arrived on 14 February, two weeks after an earlier storm on the Friday of Auckland anniversary weekend,” Glyn said. “Damage happened across the city - about 5,000 properties were damaged either by flooding or landslides. The rainfall for February was four times the normal level! “

“The two worst affected areas were Muriwai and Piha, which experienced multiple large landslides The people there are just coming out of the response phase and beginning the recovery process.”

Glyn was impressed with the coordination and focus of the people involved in the response.

However, he said the public information team, while very well run, was modest in size.

“Even Auckland has struggled to get the specialist resources they need – quite a number of people from around the country have been helping out,” he said.

”Our challenge was managing re-entry into the Muriwai exclusion zone for homeowners whose properties had been declared safe to re-enter after new assessments by the building inspections team.”

A huge communications effort went into contacting each homeowner by email and phone to ensure they were aware of the placarding status change with five different types of written advice produced, depending on the property’s circumstances.