Liam Harvey checks with a driver, and dog, heading out past the 'closed except to residents' signs near the intersection of SH2 and SH5 on Wednesday. Photo: RNZ/Phil Pennington
Liam Harvey, a traffic management supervisor, was in a truck laden with traffic cones and 'Road Closed' signs heading through hills outside Napier to close off roads in the dark, when trees started to fall, blocking his path.
"We were 7km away from the intersection of State Highway 5 on Glengarry Rd, which is where we're going to close the road - but a tree had already done that for us," Harvey recounted, of the Cyclone Gabrielle hitting full force around 1am on Tuesday last week.
He and his mate turned the truck around.
"So we turned around and started to head out of Glengarry Road and another tree had come down after we had gone through.
"So we were trapped, for a good hour or so."
The half-metre diameter tree was going nowhere.
It was raining and blowing a gale.
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Cell coverage was still up, and he called his manager, who sent out second crew.
"So they came out, which was a risk in itself, bringing another crew out, you know, just in case another tree comes down.
"But I mean, admittedly, we had a chainsaw, so we would have been sweet. But yeah, they came over, they cut the tree up."
It was their second hairy experience of the night.
Earlier, before midnight on SH2 to Wairoa, Harvey was supervising a road-closed set-up at Devil's Elbow in Tutira.
The unstable roadsides got him worried.
"There was just another massive slip that had come down, obviously behind us, as we were running our site. And yeah, it was blocking at least three-quarters of the road completely."
He called the manager, saying they were packing up to pull out.
They did not get the chance.
"We didn't even manage to pack up half our site as two trees came down in front of us.
"So I just made the immediate call then, just due to the safety of myself and my crew, that we need to turn around and close it, back here [towards Napier].
"I've still got half a site up there."
They legged it, he said.
"We're actually very lucky to make it out of State Highway 2."
Harvey has since then been supervising crews daily - long days, in the hot sun, with umbrellas out, and smiles on.
He had seen his 15-month-old son only twice since the storm, the toddler brought in to town to see him from a rural property that has lost easy access.
"It's actually lucky now that there has been a four-wheel-drive-only track that has been made," Harvey said. "So that I'm actually able to see him, and get some clothes, et cetera."
A few days ago - Harvey, like many people RNZ has talked to, is not sure what day, it has become a blur, they say - his crew had a shotgun pulled on it, out a vehicle window, on Pakowhai Road while setting up a traffic management site.
Harvey was not there, but took the call straight after it happened, learning the crew was massively shaken.
"My crew that we had down there, they were just trying to set up a site, just trying to do their job, and out of nowhere they had weapons pointed at them.
"It's frightening, it's scary.
"One of them that had the shotgun pointed at them, is off on stress leave at the moment."
The police were alerted and took statements, he said.
Abuse of traffic management crews was from a small minority of people.
"Turning them away is actually heartbreaking for us, we hate it."
Many more people approached to ask crews at road closures for help on where to go, he said.
Yesterday, manning the site at the branch of SH5 and SH2, Harvey, with two colleagues, waved and saluted trucks as they lumbered by on their way to rebuilding the roads, and got waves and honks back.
"So the abuse that we've received is very greatly minimised from the amount of love and the koha that we're seeing."
Alerts from the National Emergency Management Agency
- Keep up to date with advice from your local CDEM Group or from civildefence.govt.nz
- Floodwaters may be full of sewage, chemicals and other hazardous materials and should be avoided as much as possible
- Floodwater can carry bacteria that can contaminate food
- Protect yourself when cleaning up flood water and mud by wearing a properly fitted P2- or N95-rated mask, goggles, gloves, long pants, long-sleeved shirt, and gumboots or work shoes
- Throw away all food and drinking water that has come in contact with floodwater
- Do not eat garden produce if the soil has been flooded
- In power outages use torches instead of candles, and only use camp cookers and BBQs outdoors.
- Conserve water where you are advised to
- Check the location of pipes and cables before you dig; see Chorus' Before You Dig website and beforeudig.co.nz for all utilities
- The best way to assist in the response is through financial donations and NOT through donated goods.
