As you may have heard, two weeks ago now, Cyclone Gabrielle left a trail of destruction around New Zealand's North island, including here in our lovely Hawkes Bay region. Our property was fine and most around our town, there were precautionary evacuations in place for some areas situated by the river. Schools remained closed for the week and many businesses too. The nearest town to us and outer rural areas suffered extreme flooding, including the business where my sister in law works, and the school where my brother in law is the principal. Further north, near Napier, some of the surrounding areas suffered devastation, ravaged beyond repair, including Esk Valley and Puketapu. Entire communities were cut off. There were ongoing power outages, lost of communications and we recently had a Boil water notice lifted that was in place for nearly two weeks. Tragically, the death toll from Cyclone Gabrielle is 11, with most of these deaths in Hawkes Bay.
The emergency response has been like nothing we've seen in New Zealand and so many people have assisted in rescues to get people and animals to safety, reconnecting power and communications, roading, etc. It's been absolutely incredible. Local community volunteers have been out there helping with clean ups, food and supply drop offs, and getting rid of flood damage goods. With homes, businesses, wineries and orchards destroyed, the damage bill is estimated at least NZ $13 Billion.
It's been a very surreal time and today, the last day of our NZ summer, it's raining again and there's rain warnings in place for the east coast again and some of Hawkes Bay.
Before I move onto an update of stitching and other stuff, I just wanted to say thank you to those who reached out and checked in with me, greatly appreciated, thanks so much for getting in touch.
Back in early February, we spent a long weekend at one of our favourite beach spots, the farm at Blackhead Beach. I was so happy to be there as our January holiday week was cancelled due to bad weather. The weather was glorious, sunny and hot, and we enjoyed the days, fishing, going for drives along the beach, reading, and enjoying time with our friends.
This little stitching project was one of my February ornaments, Rudolph and Friends by Brenda Gervais. My 2023 ornament stitching is well underway, and I have four stitched so far, they just need to be made up sometime.
Now to share a few recent finishes from during this month -
Dasher & Dancer by Natalie Bird, the Birdhouse
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5 comments:
Great post of lovely stitching love them all .
Sorry about your storm , we also get bad storms where we live , but none this year so far .
It is always a worry when we get the odd bad one . I think the weather is changing we are getting milder weather and parts of Spain snow ! this year.
Love your puppy and your daughter is so lovely .
Take care all hugs June.
Glad you are all safe from the storm.
Weather all around the world has been strange this past year.
Your getaway spot looks lovely.
Great stitching, the Snow Globe is too cute!
Diesel is handsome & growing. :)
Marilyn
Good to read that you are all safe and well. The news images that we see each day are shocking, but it is heartening to know that so many people are working to help.
As always, your stitching is beautiful.
So sorry to hear about the Cyclone.
Beautiful finishes and a very good start on Hector's stocking.
Lovely picture of your daughter and Mr. Diesel.
Glad to here you were ok during the Cyclone. Up here in Gisborne I was too but the devastation is terrible. Only problem now is if we want to head out of town the only way is via the Waoieka Gorge, but it is a - is the road to it open or is it shut? So we might get out but might not get back when we want. Nearly a daily occurrence now with the slips.
Lovely stitching as always.
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