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Hundreds of Murrays Bay locals have answered calls to help clean up following the devastation of Cyclone Gabrielle – in what the local yacht club describes as “an unbelievable groundswell of support”.
Murrays Bay Sailing Club member Scott Leith said the cleanup was a combined effort between the club, local council (represented by deputy chair Julia Parfitt) and the Murrays Bay Residents' Association (led by President Josie Adriaansen).
Four skip loads of debris had been cleared by 1pm on Saturday, with another 10 loads piled on the grass, ready for removal.
“It’s been an unbelievable response, a groundswell of support. We’ve had as many as 300 people show up to help. There were entire families, young children and older people, all working hard with rakes and spades and some even with even chainsaws,” Leith said.
“While our initial focus was on removing big logs, we also cleared a lot of seaweed up to a metre deep and whatever else had been washed up during the storm – big rocks, broken umbrellas, balls, pōhutukawa branches, fishing rods. Anything you can think of really.”
Murrays Bay Sailing Club suffered significant damage to its boat ramp and sea wall.
While the club building was spared, the seawall had suffered “hundreds of thousands” of dollars’ worth of damage.
The sea surged more than 30m higher than the usual high-tide mark, Leith estimated.
“You can see debris all the way up to the steps of the club. The water literally jumped over a one and a half metre wall that it’s never jumped before.”
However, the club’s most immediate concern was restoring the boat ramp that had been practically destroyed.
“The ramp has basically been turned into a 4m x 4m bridge – it has nothing under it. I have met with the engineers, council representatives and contractors and they have been simply fantastic,” Leith said.
“We need to get rid of some of the foundation that has fallen down and then pump a whole lot of concrete under it. We’ll hopefully have that done within the next few days.”
As many as 300 people showed up to help clean Murrays Bay Beach.
Leith said club members’ thoughts are with those worst-affected by the cyclone.
“Everyone here is thinking of the people suffering from the tragedies, especially in Hawke’s Bay and Muriwai," he said.
“This [clean-up] was just our community’s small way of coming together and doing something active while thinking of those people in dire situations around the country.”
