GROWING THROUGH RECOVERY

As they rebuild from Cyclone Gabrielle, it is the spirit of the Wairoa community that stands out for Kaye Pickering and Keith Norris.

The couple has lived at the northern end of Freyberg Street for more than 30 years in their turn-of-the-century Edwardian villa. When they bought the property, the house and section were run down, and it was through developing the grounds and mowing lawns that the couple morphed into their landscaping business, Coast Park Landscapes and Nursery.

The couple are at their happiest pottering in their garden and couldn’t believe it on the morning of Cyclone Gabrielle when flood waters surrounded their house, lapping at the top of the deck.

“That morning, we looked down the driveway and saw all this water by the gate and realised it was the river.

At one point, we were surrounded by water on three sides, with the river flooding from one direction, the Awatere Stream from another and the drain in the KiwiRail corridor.”

While they are grateful the water didn’t enter the house, they lost most of the contents of their nursery, garage, and outbuildings, and their extensive gardens went underwater.

 

Removing silt was a massive job, with the couple doing most of the work themselves, supported by some family. “Initially, we had an assessor visit and lodged our insurance claim—but no one thought to check under the house. Next thing, we had cracks in the walls and tiles around the fire cracking and moving as the piles under the house had shifted.

We can’t use the wet back to heat our hot water, and we are also having issues with the septic tank. These are not issues we were aware of straight away.”

Initially, Kaye and Keith struggled with the insurance, but as soon as they approached the insurance resolution office, the process became easier. “We have still not settled, but we feel more confident than we did and are a lot more supported,” they said.

The couple cannot speak more highly of the Wairoa Recovery Office, which has offered amazing support. Kaye and Keith were part of the Recovery focus group, which was used as

a sounding board to anticipate community needs. They said the group was a way to share issues, be involved with other people and tap into resources and knowledge they may not have known about otherwise.

“It’s definitely been a stressful time. We had never been through anything like that before, and it is now the unknown that it could happen again, which is scary.”

Kaye, a former nurse, said the process has been a big lesson in patience. “We are just eating the elephant one bite at a time. There are now even more people suffering, and many people don’t realise

what others are going through.

Our hearts go out to all those who were impacted by the June flooding event.”

Kaye says getting back into the garden was a priority, which initially involved hosing the trees and plants to remove the silt. The couple will continue their landscaping business but have pulled the plug on the nursery, saying reinstating it is too big a job when there is so much to do.

“We have a lot to be grateful for in Wairoa. The recovery team, the

marae, the silt angels and the food angels have all been there to help us. We have a lot of community spirit in our town.”

  

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