Road crews double down to bail out community

Whether it was clearing blocked roads, rescuing stranded people or even towing a bogged fire engine, local roading, drainage and construction companies led the charge to get the Mahurangi community back on its feet after the floods.

Crews abandoned any plans they’d had for the Auckland Anniversary weekend and took to their diggers, trucks and excavators to help wherever they were needed around the clock.

Wharehine had one of the biggest tasks, clearing a 100-metre long slip on State Highway 1 between Puhoi and the old Hungry Creek art school, as well as flooding and slips in the Dome Valley and along much of SH16.

Managing director Rob Gibson said there were more than 50 staff working 12-hour shifts day and night over the weekend, clearing mud and fallen trees, directing traffic and ferrying people through floodwaters.

He said although it was hard work for everybody, he was impressed at how everyone reacted and pulled together.

“Yes, it was a disaster, but it actually brought people together,” he said. “The general community were awesome. People brought food out for us and they even put meals on for our guys in Wellsford – I can’t say enough for them.

“And all our guys, they came in from their families and homes to work, and some of them were flooded as well. I’m really proud of everyone.”

He said it may have been a different story if the community had needed to wait for outside contractors.

“We’re lucky we’ve got big gear and it’s all based locally. We can respond really quickly,” Gibson said.

While Wharehine worked on state highways, Rhodes for Roads was dealing with blocked roads at Tauhoa, Kaipara Hills, Ahuroa, Puhoi and down to Werenui, including a slew of slips affecting West Coast Road.

Contracts manager Phil Mason said he had nine gangs working non-stop from January 27 until Waitangi Day.

“I’ve been here 30 years and this is definitely one of the worst ones I’ve seen,” he said. “Usually you get little areas affected, but not such a big area where so many roads go at once.”

Mason Contractors was also clearing rural roads for Downers and they also had extra crews working throughout.

Managing director Lance O’Callaghan said there were slips and blockages everywhere, with Matakana Valley Road, Pakiri Road and Ahuroa Road among the worst affected.

“We opened up Pakiri Hill, but it’s still

Haulage heroes

rough,” he said. “Ahuroa is the worst – that was a huge great slip.

“We had about half our guys out working through the long weekend,” he said. “We just like to do what we can to look after locals.”

Masons also hauled out a large shipping container that floated out from beside Puhoi’s General Store during the worst floods in living memory and ended up wedged in the railings on a pedestrian bridge.

Exaro Contracting director and operations manager Ivan King found himself stranded on the wrong side of the Puhoi floodwaters from his home in Saleyards Road, but was soon in amongst it and helping people.

“We have a subdivision in Orewa we’re working on, so about 4 o’clock I thought I’d go to have a look at that and make sure everything was okay. The water was just coming up over the road as I left and when I came back 45 minutes later, I couldn’t get home.”

King had an excavator at home, so asked a mate to drive it down to him, then they spent the next several hours ferrying people backwards and forwards and retrieving stranded cars, until the water got too deep for even the excavator.

“It was unbelievable, I’ve never witnessed that amount of water, and for it to come up so quickly … you couldn’t believe your eyes,” he said.

“We had to wait for about three hours for the waters to subside a bit then we carried on ferrying people from about 10 o’clock.” King was back again the next morning, together with another Puhoi contractor, Sean Hoddle of Hodz Drainage, who brought staff, trucks and diggers in from

Helensville. Jethro Drum from DrumEx Earthmoving also got stuck in to help those in and around the community.

“We worked all along the main road through Puhoi, clearing slips along there, pulled out trees and started moving things out of people’s driveways, then went up Fiddlers Hill,” Hoddle said.

“After that, we started helping at the store. We brought in a six-wheeler to help get rid of all their rubbish. They lost pretty much everything. You just do what you can; it’s what it’s all about.”

King agreed.

“We were just trying to help the community. It’s nice to be able to help with something. There are not many places where everyone would pull together like Puhoi did.”