Cyclone Gabrielle: Pan Pac littered with timber, logs and other debris after storm hit Hawke’s Bay

Pan Pac's Whirinaki site has been left littered with debris after Cyclone Gabrielle flooding. Photo / Warren Buckland

Water has started to recede from Pan Pac after Tuesday’s devastating cyclone left parts of the forestry company’s Whirinaki site underwater but it could be weeks before it opens again.

The floodwaters may be receding now, however, you don’t have to look far for a reminder of how high they were.

At the front of the site stands a red-brick security office where you can still see a thick water line over halfway up the wall, indicating how far underwater parts of the premises would have been.

A water-level mark on a Pan Pac building shows how high the floodwaters rose. Photo / Warren Buckland

The site is starting to dry off and only a small team of workers is allowed back through the gate to assess the damage.

From the front gates, a reporter could see a tangled pile of trees, logs and timber debris stacked against office blocks and the mill shed.

Further down the road, the devastation continued with the forestry company’s logs and timber floating in neighbouring paddocks and stuck on fences.

Cyclone Gabrielle floods leave Pan Pac logs and timber floating in nearby fields. Photo / Warren Buckland

Locals from the area said 300m away, timber and logs had been littered across the road and people had been driving along Whirinaki Beach and passing the beachfront houses to avoid the carnage.

Now all the logs and timber packs have been moved to the side of the road so vehicles can get through safely.

Floodwater pushes around Pan Pac timber stacks. Photo / Warren Buckland

On Thursday, Pan Pac took to its official Facebook page to say its Whirinaki site remained inaccessible and that it would “take weeks before we are operational again”.

“We implore staff and the public to avoid the site until further notice. It is unsafe to enter.”

Pan Pac ended the post by saying: “We appreciate our business as a significant employer, with over 400 staff and 400 contractors. We will do everything we can to get our business back up and running, as safely as possible.

“Kia Kaha”