Cyclone Gabrielle: Local businesses send digger to help with clean-up

Waipa Hire owner Logan Jones and Waipa Towing owner Wayne John with the donated digger loaded for delivery to the Hawkes Bay Cyclone Gabrielle cleanup. Photo / Supplied

Wayne John, the owner of local business Waipā Towing, has combined resources with Waipā Hire to send a 1.7-tonne Caterpillar digger down to the Cyclone Gabrielle-affected Hawke’s Bay region for six weeks to help with the clean-up of local properties.

Clean-up to the residents’ properties will be free of charge.

The digger was delivered on Saturday, March 25 to Puketapu in the Hastings area.

Wayne will also be taking his own digger down in the coming weeks to help out with some of the clean-up personally.

“My wife and I love the Hawke’s Bay region and we were absolutely devastated following the news and we really wanted to help in some way. That is when we got the ball rolling and made a plan,” says Wayne.

Digger loaded onto it's trailer ready for transport to the Hawkes Bay. Photo / Supplied

Wayne reached out to Waipā Hire to see if they would help out and generously supplied the cause with the digger and also a trailer so it can be moved around the region. Waipā Towing undertook delivery.

“I have a friend in Puketapu and through conversations about how devastated the area is, as well as how all the people in the area desperately need help, Waipā Hire and I decided to get something sorted to contribute however we could,” says Wayne.

Arna Dickie, owner of Waipā Hire, says, “We have worked with Wayne since we purchased the Waipā Hire.

“When he approached us with the idea, we just wanted to do what we could to support Wayne and do what we can to help the people down there, especially after seeing the news coverage of the devastation.”

Feedback from locals in Puketapu is they appreciate the help to clean up around their houses and being able to free up access to their homes.