THE LONG ROAD BACK FROM DISASTER

The recent devastating Cyclone Gabrielle is like nothing ever seen in New Zealand.

Tragically, it claimed the lives of 11 people. Also destroying homes and livelihoods leaving silt, floodwater and mud covering crops, vines and pastures which will take years to recover from.

Our CLAAS Harvest Centre Hawke’s Bay team members were all safe and well, though some were initially cut off from accessing the branch and a few had flooding in and around their homes. But uppermost in their thoughts was the devastation to so many customers across the agriculture, horticulture and viticulture sectors they primarily work in.

The team quickly stepped up and swung into action.

CLAAS Harvest Centre Hawke’s Bay Operations Manager, Wray Wilson takes up the story:

Post cyclone our first priority for our orchard customers was recovering tractors out of the silt; many of which had been completely submerged to over the top of the cab. Quick to pitch in

On the Friday following the cyclone I asked in the Branch Managers’ meeting if anyone had a transporter trailer we could borrow. Within a few short hours, the Bay of Plenty team managed to get through with their delivery truck which, while en route, the Central Districts team loaded up with a trailer and a heap of other supplies including crucial gas bottles and generators. It was absolutely brilliant. Because of that quick and generous response, our team and customers are delighted with what we’ve achieved. The truck and trailer were in constant use from dawn to dusk.

To date we’ve extracted and recovered 50 drowned orchard tractors along with dozens of other implements such as mulchers, mowers and hoes for multiple customers. Despite extensive damage, even we were surprised how the mighty little CLAAS NEXOS fared against other brands which were similarly submerged but seemed to have more water infiltrating their engines.

After three busy weeks, the hugely helpful truck and trailer were returned to their respective branches, with the truck’s final task to deliver an AMAZONE Spreader to Central Districts for their Field Days.

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JCB gets stuck in

Landpower put a brand new JCB 435 at our disposal which did amazing work for our customers and communities. It was trucked in from Waikato and operated by members of our staff. As soon as it arrived, it got straight into clearing mud and silt at the Waiohiki village (on the news due to complete flood inundation - except for a single house).

The JCB did equally important work digging out badly impacted Pakowhai and Puketapu properties (also heavily featured on the news). It cut access tracks and pulled out machinery at T&G (Turners and Growers) orchards, one of the region’s largest growers and employers.

Hawke’s Bay has approximately 63 percent of the country’s pipfruit trees and it is estimated that over 50 percent of these have been affected by the floods. The JCB has been perfect for the job and very flexible –while not able to help everywhere, it still put a substantial 435-sized dent in the work.

We love to hear and share your stories. Email marketing@landpower.co.nz with what you’re up to along with photos for the next issue.

THE LONG ROAD BACK FROM DISASTER CONT...

Looking ahead – our priorities to support our customers and look after our people

Our current focus is twofold:

1. Working through the backlog of flooded tractors assessing for repair to determine what is able to be reconditioned or recommending write-off for those too badly impacted; and

2. Keeping up with our normal workload as we’re still in the middle of harvest. Our priority has been to get the CLAAS NEXOS tractors triaged and back out for the apple and grape harvests.

As insurance assessments are completed on machinery, this is also creating another bow wave of work to get through.

Our team performed superbly under pressure – whether in the workshop, engineering, parts, admin or sales – everyone played a part. We’re coping with the workload but assess it week-to-week to decide if we need to reach out across the group for assistance.

In It Together

With an urgent need to get local machinery operational again, but deliveries to the area cut off, Landpower chartered a small aircraft from Christchurch to fly essential items into Napier. That included parts to help restart some machinery to support impacted people, along with food, water, equipment and emergency tools.

FINAL THOUGHTS – HOW YOU CAN HELP

Whilst the rural community is very resilient, the scale of the damage has to be seen to be believed. There has been a huge outpouring of support and assistance and many people turned up with shovels and the like to assist people in need.

A lot of people outside the area ask how they can help. As there appears to be enough donated goods in the district, we’d suggest donating to Federated Farmers who have an adverse events fund directly targeting farmers and growers. Money is probably the most useful now: https://www.fedfarm.org.nz/FFPublic/Support/ Cyclone-Gabrielle.aspx

After another day of search and recovery of machinery submerged in mud, Gordon Mitchell (Service Technician) and David Marsh (Apprentice Service Technician) look tired but chuffed to have rescued two more tractors. This critical work was made possible thanks to the generosity of CLAAS Harvest Centre Bay of Plenty for their truck and CLAAS Harvest Centre Central Districts for their trailer.