Mark Taylor/Stuff
Luke Firmin delivers water to the cyclone that hit the east coast.
A man from Hamilton has been to Tairāwhiti and Hawkes Bay to lend a much needed hand.
Waikato Domestic Water Delivery operator Luke Firmin had been in the region since Monday, carrying water to communities affected by Cyclone Gabrielle.
The town of Gisborne is under “extreme” restrictions on water use since February 17leading businesses and communities to clean up silt and mud, deposited in floods related to cyclones, as they struggle to clear the water.
While filling water in Ōpōtiki, the 12,000 liter capacity on his Sinotruck was put to good use in Wairoa to help clean up a Farmlands store.
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The cost of truckloads of water had been borne by Firmin himself, though a donor had stepped in to provide a few tanks’ worth as well, he said. In total, Firmin had delivered five loads or 60,000 liters to communities in the region.
“Someone gave me some money to donate water.”
The water Firmin had transported was mainly limed for drinking, but some had been used to make sludge companies in the town of Wairoa in Hawkes Bay to the north.
MARK TAYLOR / STUFF
In a remarkably unscathed part of Wairoa, Hinemihi marae deals with those who have lost everything with aroha and precision.
The desolation of the city struck Frimin.
“Very far away! Imagine that happening to you.”
Firmin said he would drive to Hamilton on Sunday evening and stop after Saturday morning’s tornado to check on his property in Waihi.
Seeing the sludge in Wairoa, he also considers removing a tank from one of the trucks in his fleet and adding a tipper instead to continue helping once the need for water has dried up.
“There’s so much sludge, I’m definitely thinking about it.”