Over 2.5 million cubic metres of silt has been collected from across Hawke’s Bay as the Silt Recovery Taskforce completes its recovery work removing silt and debris from flood impacted properties in less than two years following Cyclone Gabrielle.

Regional Council Chair Hinewai Ormsby said the collaboration between Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and Hastings District Council, played a pivotal role to support the region as it recovered and rebuilt following the devastation from the cyclone.

“The Silt Recovery Taskforce’s mahi, funded by Government, supported our community hit hard by the cyclone, with millions of tonnes of flood sediment and debris removed from over 1000 properties,” Chair Ormsby said.

“I want to thank everyone involved in the Taskforce from the key team, to contractors, suppliers, the communities they worked with, other agencies and everyone else. I also want to acknowledge the support we had from Government, who funded the Taskforce. Without this combined support our region’s recovery would have been much slower.”

Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said finishing the job in less than two years, following the cyclone, was no mean feat, and a major milestone to the region’s wider recovery.

“Seeing properties cleaned up, the piles of silt gone, grass sprouting and our land getting back to productivity is wonderful,” Mayor Hazlehurst said.

The Taskforce has returned around 7,000 hectares of productive land with the removal of cyclone strewn sediment and debris across1184 properties and supported landowners back to productivity.

Silt Recovery Taskforce lead Darren de Klerk said the months following the cyclone were a massive challenge.

“It was daunting, challenging, rewarding and a steep learning curve, rich with lessons for future disaster recoveries.

“We needed to work out how to deal with millions of cubic metres of sediment and debris, safely, efficiently, and sustainably. The sheer number of jobs logged, and the widespread damage was overwhelming.

“To break the task into manageable chunks, we established the taskforce as a cross-council agency, with no certainty on funding in the early days. We then developed a zoning system and action plan for collecting, testing, transporting, and managing silt and whatever was mixed in with it.

“I’m proud of the work we have done. A multi-agency effort, with community and the region’s recovery at the heart. We’ve cleared an estimated 2.5 million cubic metres of silt, helped hundreds of landowners back to productivity, and sorted through over 400,000 cubic metres of mixed waste and tidied up close to 1.2 million cubic metres of woody debris.

This collaboration was recently recognised at the Association of Local Government Information Management (ALGIM) Awards where the Silt Recovery Taskforce received a Collaboration Excellence Award.

Silt has been put to good use with significant volumes used in Napier’s Parkland and the Hawke’s Bay Expressway development as well as blended into quarries for base course production, he said.

“Close to 15,000 damaged orchard and vineyard posts were recycled into fence posts. Water tanks, irrigation pipes and concrete were also recycled. Significant volumes of woody debris was repurposed into mulch, boiler fuel, community giveaways and community projects.”

Mr de Klerk said he was humbled by the community’s resilience, support for each other, and their sense of humour even when everyone was going through an incredibly tough time.

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