The silt was up to six metres deep in areas of Eskdale. Photo: Supplied / Natasha Tanner
Volunteers are still travelling to Hawke's Bay from around the North Island to help with the clean-up, eight months on from Cyclone Gabrielle.
Temporary housing requirements mean paid accommodation is in short supply, so locals are offering up their spare rooms to unpaid workers, or letting them park their motorhomes park on their properties.
Greenmeadows resident Maree Langford and her husband Martin first offered up their spare rooms in March, and had been hosting volunteers ever since.
"Most have stayed in our house, because we're empty nesters now and we have a four-bedroom house, [but] some come in mobile homes and stay a bit more independently, just coming in for the occasional shower," Langford said.
She said there was a certain amount of survivor's guilt to her decision - her home was not touched by the flooding, and this was a way of giving back.
Some volunteers returned more than once, and she said some had become life-long friends.
They stayed anywhere from two to 10 days, hailing from as far afield as New Plymouth, Tauranga, and Bay of Plenty, and found work in cleanup crews clearing silt, stripping homes, repairing fencing, or cooking meals for displaced families.
She said the stream of volunteers had been pretty steady.
"It just is a continual need, because obviously our motel accommodation is quite full with people that have lost their homes from the floods as well, so the whole thing's quite tricky."
Langford said she was happy to cook for her guests but often they brought their own food, and more to share.
Natasha Tanner (right) removing silt from under floorboards. Photo: Supplied / Natasha Tanner
Among the guests-turned-friends were Natasha Tanner and her husband Rueben, who had now travelled six times from their home in South Waikato to join the Hawke's Bay Cleanup Crew, which had anywhere from five to 30 volunteers at a time.
Natasha Tanner said seeing the devastation the first time they came down to help, and the difference their help made to homeowners, made them determined to come back.
"When you start seeing that load come off, the weight come off the homeowner's shoulders, you just start seeing that hope come back into their eyes, and they can see a way forward."
She said social media had been the most powerful tool for coordinating volunteers.
When they had first posted asking for a place to park their van, Langford reached out, and as soon as they arrived they were offered the spare room instead.
"We were quite overwhelmed because they were so hospitable and loving, and just appreciated the help coming from outside of the district," Tanner said.
Others had even moved to be closer to the clean-up.
After the Hawke's Bay cleanup crew had cleared silt from a property. Photo: Supplied / Natasha Tanner
Seeing the destruction in Eskdale, Monique Tapara and her husband moved into a vacant category 3 home, which the owner had walked away from.
Once its silt-covered orchards were cleared, Tapara said they had plans to build up to 10 cabins, small enough that they would not need resource consent, for displaced locals and visiting volunteers.
"They're just going to be simple, three-by-three [metres], so you don't have to have a permit for them, but comfortable."
A local church had already donated a shower block and a toilet block and Tapara said she hoped it would enable more people to come to the region to help - there was still so much work to do.
She said she understood the lack of housing was deterring potential volunteers.
"We've got a little community hub that we get donations for kai and all that and we're going to try and start a garden so we can start feeding people, too."
With silt still thick in places like Eskdale, and so many people uninsured, she said there was easily still another year's worth of work to go.
