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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/19/everyones-pretty-gutted-new-zealanders-struggle-to-pick-up-pieces-after-cyclone-gabrielle>
"Everywhere, strewn across the valleys and plains, there are apples. Red
spheres line the roads and stud the drying mud. They are strung like beads on
the fences, impaled on the barbed wire. As the flood waters rose, people waded
through water up to the waists, then shoulders – and then swam through the
torrent, past all the royal gala and braeburn. As the river rose through Max
Robertson’s home, he pushed his father and two dogs on to a floating table, and
tried to crack a joke: “I said: look Dad, we can go apple bobbing.”
When rivers burst their banks and sent Cyclone Gabrielle’s flood waters
sweeping through Hawke’s Bay, they washed over hundreds of hectares of
orchards, stripping the fruit from the trees and propelling it across the
valleys.
Washing away with them are the livelihoods of many farmers and orchardists,
lost alongside homes, belongings and at least nine lives. Now, surviving
communities are gathering to try to pick up the pieces. With relief efforts
under way nationally, emergency services are stretched thin, leaving some
frustrated that more support has not arrived. In small towns and valleys,
residents are gathering to dig out the mud, clear out houses and guard their
homes from looters – and say they are seeing the best and worst humanity has to
offer. The death toll climbed to 11 on Sunday."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
