Rotary deal to "The Leaning Shed of Edgecumbe".

It’s just on 6 months since the Rangitaiki River burst its banks and flooded Edgecumbe with devastating consequences. 

With the passing of time news of this flood has long since disappeared from the press so this is an update. 

While Edgecumbe received considerable assistance during the evacuation time and immediately thereafter, there still remains a lot of work to do to re-establish people back into their homes. 

Just on 260 homes were evacuated and many of these are deemed unfit to be inhabitable ever again. 

Many houses are also waiting for insurance company decisions and the release of funds so repair work can commence.  As a separate exercise, some houses have been getting repaired and are now coming on stream for re-occupation – so far around 15 families are back in their repaired homes.

The photo shows an old and unsafe garden shed (nicknamed the leaning shed of Edgecumbe) being demolished with team members lined up being from left Roger Mark (Otumoetai), Elaine Owens (Tauranga Te Papa) and Neil Percival (Tauranga Te Papa).

Under the leadership of Community Services director Neil Percival, Rotary Tauranga Te Papa is coordinating arrangements for teams of volunteers – Rotarians, partners, friends etc. – to travel to Edgecumbe at least one day each week to assist in tidying up properties where residents are about to return.  Most days result in a big skip being filled with rubbish for dumping.  

This manual work has been very well received and is a meaningful way of helping people who have been through much hardship during the last 6 months.  We expect there will be sufficient work to keep these Edgecumbe ‘work teams’ going for some 2 or 3 months.