Update on the New Zealand Cyclone

[Bettybuckets]

Thanks for the encouragement to share the story of this 7 week trip to NZ. I’m still very lucky to be on oral therapy… now capecitabine which I started just before I left on this trip in January. But enough about me when so many are really suffering…

The cyclone hit on Feb13th causing almost unfathomable damage.. Some of the Main highways and innumerable small roads have been washed away or blocked by slips in the hillside above. The largest “slip” was 15 acres of land that fell down and filled a valley. The silt that was carried by many over flowing rivers did much destruction to farms, vineyards and homes. I heard of one small stone church that filled with 2 feet of silt… volunteers shrivelled it out… some homes filled with twice that… imagine 4 fr of dirt in your house!?

I just had dinner with a close friend who flew into the area to find out IF her family was ok… and then stayed for past 10 days volunteering 12 hrs a day at a rescue CENTER set up at a camp ground feeding B, L, D to hundreds of people without power in the area plus making sandwiches by the hundreds for all the volunteers… all of the food donated. Local restaurants took turns sending in big tubs of dinners ( like Craggy Hill Vineyards which had a year wait to get a reservation) sent huge piles of chili con carne to feed 200 people who came in from farms at night for an evening meal since they had no electricity…

my friend told me if an egg farm that sent out 1000 cooked eggs… and she told me how exhausting it was for her band of volunteers to prep all this food starting at 7am for breakfast and continuing thru dinner… with no electricity! They used gas bottles on a BBQ and had a generator to heat water only for showers.. that meant they had to carry hot water back and forth to the campground kitchen from camp toilet block nearby. So much work!

This is New Zealand coming together at its finest! She told of people who arrived in just their knickers -all clothes having been washed away. One man walked out of his small community 50 km away and slogged to this campground rescue centre finally getting a lift after days…and he brought a scrap of paper that had all the names of 100 people in his small rural community so their family around the country would know they were safe. And then he couldn’t get back. Some of the major roads to many towns just can’t be fixed for many months. Cutting them off from getting to jobs etc. and so since they couldn’t work they just pitched into the volunteer efforts helping Neighbors dig out.. and so that was what my friend and her hubby did for past 2 weeks.. they fed the volunteer crews…what a legend! Thank you Lee and steve!

We are currently at a friends bach( summer cottage) where we can look out to the sea and view at least 6 large container ships spaced far out to sea just waiting to unload needed supplies at the largest port in the country. NZ suddenly has food insecurity issues due ti the cyclone…

Whole crops have been lost under the silt of so many rivers. Believe it or not, until recently the onion crop brought in more money than NZ wine. Now all gone with fruit trees and vineyard too. And they say the beautiful soil is all wrecked and may have decades of economic repercussions from this devastating storm. This picture of the road washed away is repeated all over New Zealand..

Well thanks for reading and caring.

[SeattleMom]

What an unbelievable story of tragedy! Followed by such care and kindness by neighbors and volunteers. 🙏🏻🙏🏻

[Pachira]

Until you posted I imagined that things were if not back to normal the. Much improved. I think it was the fact that I saw NZ playing cricket that made me think of normality. My husband looked up where you are and it appears you’re in the north Island. We looked at the map and saw the beach and how the water must have come down from the mountains and converged in that flatter area. Doug says there are 7 major rivers that meet and in 1948 something similar happened

You have such nice friends volunteering to help with the meals. It’s so weird that they don’t show any of this on the tv but what can we expect of the us media I expect you must be getting ready for the return trip. I’m so glad you were able to go. Thank you so much for sharing your holiday and experiences. I was touched by the story of the man walking out with his list of names. Chris

[Bettybuckets in reply to Pachira]

chris thanks so much for encouraging me to write as it has been very therapeutic for me. Yes we are back in wiaheke island near we we sold our house last year.. just 3 precious last days. I wish I could stay… it really is my spiritual home… my mum and dusghter had sibling and tons of US friends tug me back. Oh and my doggie.

[Red1246]

I had no idea and am so sorry to read of this enormous devastation. It’s encouraging however to read about the community coming together to care for and feed those in need. May the losses be contained and families reunited as soon as possible. Take care. 🙏🏻❤️

[Bettybuckets in reply to Red1246]

thanks for reading… it had been great to find that of the 3000+ that went missing… only 14 lost their lives. Most were just so cut off with no electricity internet and roads out that no one could be sure. It was a tense time.

[love2golfwell]

I am so sorry to hear of the devastation there due to the cyclone, an awful tragedy. It sounds like the people there are really coming together to help each other and give hope to all of those affected. It will take a long time before things can get back to normal, but the spirit and strength of the people of New Zealand will help them go on. Sending you hugs and prayers for your beautiful country.

[jersey-jazz]

Thank you, Bettybuckets, for letting us know the terrible disaster that has happened there. Otherwise, we here would have absolutely no knowledge of such a calamity that'll will have reprocussions for so many years. I really cannot imagine such devastation and admire your friends greatly.

[Kruza]

My goodness, what a calamity. Thank you to all for helping. Also thank you to you Bettybuckets for telling us this story. Believe it or not, here in the USA it is not being told.

[Sharon0122]

So much tragedy and here in the US it’s a forgotten story. I wish I could share this on Facebook and have people pass it around but I tried and I guess we can’t copy and paste on this sight. Prayers to you and NZ.

[Bettybuckets in reply to Sharon0122]

thanks for trying! I should prob share.

[Aquadog]

Hooray for the resilient New Zealand people! Love how they're carrying on in the toughest of circumstances. Very inspiring. Thank you for sharing this.

[mariootsi]

I'm praying for all those affected by New Zealands disasters! Take care of yourself.