Cyclone Gabrielle has been an unprecedented event for the Tararua District. The help and support for affected farms and families will be ongoing for days, weeks and even months.
During an adverse event such as Cyclone Gabrielle, Jane Tylee, as Tararua Rural Support Trust (RST) co-ordinator, is part of the Civil Defence response team. Jane co-ordinates with her local RST team and other rural community groups and gives a really local, rural perspective to the larger Civil Defence group. This co-ordination involves hours of phone calls and on-farm visits.
Jane has a team of farmers from around the district who have been invaluable in providing information from local areas. This has led to quick and efficient reporting to relevant agencies, such as Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM). Jane attends meetings with CDEM and provides local information relevant to farms and farmers in our area.
Around 500 farms have been visited in four days. RST worked alongside Tararua District Council and iwi doing welfare checks and assessing what the issues/needs are moving forward. The farms visited were assessed as being the highest priority due to access, power and isolation issues, based on preliminary information.
Ongoing work
