Our cyclone relief steps up

By Viv Posselt

Cambridge lost no time in reaching out to help those most affected by last week’s Cyclone Gabrielle.

Individuals, businesses and other groups and organisations moved swiftly to gather and send out items needed urgently for those in the most severely affected areas. Many here were spurred into action after seeing images of the devastated Hawke’s Bay area. They reached out to social media to launch initiatives which will stay in place for several months.

Among the first to move was a Cambridge Jewellers team. Anna Gerring shared her desire to do something on social media and by 11am she had been contacted by Mainfright to say they had a truck going down and could transport donations being dropped off at the jeweller’s shop.

“People are so generous. It’s all stuff that will be used immediately – toiletries, tinned food, pet food, baby formula, sanitary products and the like,” said Anna. “When the truck arrived down there on Saturday, there were people in the streets applauding.”

Anna and her colleagues – Vicky Vickers, Stacey Murray, Laura Cannon – put the call out for boxes and on Sunday were joined by Anna’s fiancé Murray Yeates and Cambridge Chamber chief Kelly Bouzaid for a busy packing session before the goods were transported. That initial truckload went on Saturday and another large trailer-load was taken on Sunday headed to Wairoa.

Friday also saw Mike Ross, managing director at C & R Developments, put out a call for warehouse space to accommodate donations that gathered quickly at their Hautapu premises once they put the word out.

The company is run by the Ross brothers, who have historic connections to Hastings and were keen to assist where they could across the Hawke’s Bay area. Their great-grandfather Francis Hicks was one of the founding settlers of Hastings.

“I was awake around 2am on Friday and thought I’d like to do something,” Mike said on Monday morning. “We had a spare truck available and were ready to go. There was a great response to our weekend call for warehousing, and we’ve now probably got enough donations to easily fill two trucks.” Goods were still coming in, and he expects the initiative will continue for some time. The generosity of local communities is being welcomed by Civil Emergency and Red Cross teams who are collaborating nationwide to support the relief effort, but they are urging donors to familiarise themselves with what is needed.

Wayne Allan, Western Waikato local civil defence controller, said monetary donations were the single, most helpful things Kiwis can do right now.

• Te Miro chops in, See page 24

Cyclone Gabrielle has certainly hit the country with force. I know that many of you were affected directly, locally with fallen trees, power outages and slips or indirectly having friends or family displaced elsewhere in the North Island.

I hope everyone has come through safely.

It is at times like this that a strong sense of community comes to the fore. We are lucky to have organisations such as Civil Defence and Neighbourhood Support who work to prepare for, respond and manage such emergencies. It is a reminder of the importance to be prepared ourselves, for example having extra non-perishable food supplies, water, a battery powered radio, medical supplies, a back-up UPS for critical equipment (for example medical, security) . If weather warnings are issued it is helpful to also prepare a ‘go bag’ of family essentials to take with you in the event of a sudden evacuation.

While the cyclone has been forefront of everyone’s minds, our criminals haven’t stopped.

We have had a bit of a change in vehicle theft type in recent weeks. I have highlighted motorcycles and trailers. In the past month however, seven utility vehicles have been stolen in Cambridge. Two burglaries just this week each targeted two utes, but while ignitions were pulled in all cases, they only got away with one. One offender or group of offenders will often be responsible for a high volume of incidents, feeding into a network of receivers (those people who exchange drugs or money for stolen goods and sell or trade them onward).

Identifying features such as registration plates and VIN plates are commonly removed from stolen vehicles and in some cases a completely new vehicle identity is fabricated. The more information and photographic evidence you have of distinguishing marks, damage, customisations or modifications made to vehicles you own, the better.

Still on the topic of vehicles, I’d like to remind you about driving behaviour around schools. Schools are always high traffic volume areas for drop off and pick up times. We then have the added risk of children on foot, scooters and bikes, not all of whom are paying attention to their surroundings. Please keep your speed to the lower 40 kph limit around schools and be aware of parking restrictions. No parking zones are in place for a reason, often to ensure clear visibility for pedestrian crossings, so do not park on them. I have also been asked to remind the community that bus stops do not constitute a drop off zone. Until next week, stay safe and report anything suspicious.

Library membership

Membership at Waipā’s two libraries in Cambridge and Te Awamutu continue trending upwards as do book issues. Cambridge has 21,538 members and issued 147,529 books in the three months starting October 1, while Te Awamutu has 16,096 members and issued 78,526 books, the council’s Service Delivery committee was told this week.

Boy racers out

Roads in Cambridge, Maungatautari, Te Awamutu, Kihikihi, Pirongia and Ōhaupō will be closed between 9pm and 4am under Waipā council plans to curb antisocial driving. The behaviour is often intimidating, creates litter issues and excessive noise. In rural areas, the noise frightens stock, as well as disturbing residents, council Transportation manager Bryan Hudson told the Service Delivery committee meeting this week.

High vis reps

There will be no mistaking Te Awamutu-Kihikihi

Community Board members following the board’s decision last night to invest $250 in high vis vests for members attending community events.

Clocking the risk

The Cambridge Clock Tower will be given a detailed seismic assessment. A heritage architect, who was engaged to make a condition assessment, recommended commissioning a report to ascertain if the tower is an earthquake risk.

Te Kanohi fees

Waipā’s four iwi representatives – known as Te Kanohi - will receive meeting fees rather than an annual payment, under a recommendation tabled at the Finance and Corporate committee this week. A $450 half day and $550 full day meeting fee, plus mileage, will be paid. The annual fee will come to about $16,300 –up by $3300.