- Hon Damien O'Connor
Rural Communities Minister Damien O’Connor has classified the storm that caused significant flood damage across the Tairāwhiti district and Hawke’s Bay region a medium-scale adverse event, unlocking Government support for farmers and growers.
“We’re making $150,000 available to help the region’s farmers and growers recover from the heavy rain across Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay, bringing total Government support to $325,000,” Damien O’Connor said.
“This support will be made available through regional primary sector groups and councils to use where it is best placed to help.
“The effects of this event follow close on the heels of other recent storm clean-ups, adding to the stresses for those involved.
“It’s important to help farmers and growers now facing a big clean-up effort after the storm dumped over 400mm of rain in some places. There have been reports of widespread damage to farms across the region, and with roads still closed some farmers are facing delays their getting their stock to meat processing plants and forestry harvesting is also disrupted.
“The cumulative effect of the loss of feed crops and baleage, siltation deposits on flat lands, hill slippage, and the damage to culverts, farm tracks and other infrastructure, means farmers will face many months of work to get back on track.
“The funding includes wellbeing support and specialist technical advice.
“We will continue to assess whether further support is needed, such as Enhanced Taskforce Green for clean-up, as the full extent of the storm damage becomes more apparent over the coming weeks,” Damien O’Connor said.
The funding is in addition to support of $175,000 announced by Emergency Management Minister Kiritapu Allan on Thursday.
Helpful links and numbers:
Farmers needing support around dealing with floods are encouraged to visit the MPI Website
- DairyNZ: 0800 4 DairyNZ (0800 432 479 69)
- Beef + Lamb New Zealand: 0800 BEEFLAMB (0800 233 352)
- Federated Farmers: 0800 FARMING (0800 327 646)
- Farmers who require wellbeing support can contact Rural Support Trust on 0800 RURAL HELP or 0800 787 254
