A sign of the amazing community spirit. Photo / Paul Taylor
I remember writing a couple of years ago about how I would never moan about the rain.
“We need the rain,” I wrote.
It must have been during a rain-less hot summer.
It certainly wasn’t this summer, which finished yesterday.
Today, I’m moaning about it. Every time it has rained since Cyclone Gabrielle struck I feel sick for the hundreds of people trying to remove mud, silt and ruined possessions from their homes.
It must be so upsetting to make a bit of progress, and then down comes the rain to ruin it all over again.
It’s just been relentless. I listened to it for what felt like all night on Monday.
Tuesday morning was bleak, wet and just miserable.
We are a tough lot but we need a break now to give people a chance to dry out and make some progress.
Luckily, there are still so many people out there donating much-needed supplies and helping people keep their spirits up.
There’s been a lot of grim news right down the East Coast for what feels like months now.
However, there have also been some amazing stories of people in our community — I’m going to call them heroes — who have risked their lives to help complete strangers.
A few that come to mind are cousins Mikey and Rikki Kihi and their mate Morehu Maxwell, who owns a jetboat. After hearing that the Kihi family in Esk Valley were climbing onto the roof, they took action.
They launched the jetboat from Eskdale School and through toppled powerlines, debris and raging floodwaters managed to take their family to safety.
They then went on to rescue several more people. Awesome effort.
Then there’s is Max Robertson, who jumped into the water to help his neighbours. He had already got his dad and two other people to safety but he knew his neighbours had a little girl, so in he went to find them.
His story is harrowing. He helped the family onto the roof of their home but as he waited in the dark with them he heard screaming as a man clung to the guttering. Max dragged him up but the man’s wife was swept away.
They could hear her crying for help all night. How absolutely awful. At first light, Max spotted the woman and dived straight back into the water.
She survived. Amazing bravery.
There are so many heroes. Helicopter pilots, emergency services, police, the list goes on. Then there are people cooking meals, restaurants and communities coming together to ease the pain a little.
And of course the volunteers turning up to strangers’ homes, picking up a shovel or delivering food and care packages — all of you are heroes.
While all eyes are naturally on helping those affected by the cyclone, I’d just like to take your attention away for a minute. I read a story last week headed: “Pensioners ‘quietly starving’ as costs soar”.
As we all know, the cost of living is just out of control at the moment. Food is so expensive. Many elderly don’t like asking for help. Instead, they turn off their heaters, cut back on food and stay home by themselves.
If you have an elderly neighbour and have the means to lend a hand I bet it would be greatly appreciated. It doesn’t have to be a lot. Perhaps dish up an extra meal or offer some baking — anything really — even a question — are you okay?
Luckily we are good at looking after each other because there are more and more people in our community who need looking after.
Caleb Ireland, 22, was the only Hawke's Bay qualifier, but beat 219 others to the win.