Weatherell Transport: Lifeline established thanks to trucks

Gisborne transport operator Steve Weatherell has navigated his fair share of adverse weather events, slips and blocked roads. So, the disastrous impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle weren’t going to stop him and his drivers from supplying the East Coast with essential goods.

Speaking from his truck at Ohope Beach nearly two months after the fatal Cyclone Gabrielle made landfall in February, Weatherell Transport Director Steve Weatherell is as calm now as he was when disaster struck.

When two of his drivers, who were stranded between Matawai and Gisborne, suddenly arrived back in Gisborne after local farmers with chainsaws cleared a path, Mr Weatherell went to the Emergency Centre established at the Gisborne District Council office to report on the road’s status.

“They were surrounded by slips. They’d come past Matawai but they couldn’t get through Otoko and then couldn’t back to Matawai either,” Mr Weatherell says.

“But thankfully, they ended up in town eventually. So, I spoke with Downer [New Zealand] about their views on the roads being closed, seeing as my guys had gotten through. I eventually spoke with Helen Harris from NZTA [National Journey Manager] who sent one of her people up there who discovered what we had worked out – that the roads were now passable.”

A logistical plan was quickly established to start bringing in trucks with supplies the next morning. Mr Weatherell already had drivers and trucks parked up at Whakatane and Opotiki enroute when the cyclone landed. A request for help from drivers in Tauranga and Auckland went out as soon as communication was reestablished in Gisborne via the satellite Starlink system.

“So, the next morning [15 February], we brought about 12 or 14 units of food into town. And then the following morning we spread the word out for the fuel tankers and everybody else and basically the town got back to somewhat normal.”

These convoys of trucks – accompanied by a lead and trailing Downer vehicle – brought food, water and fuel to cut-off townships along State Highway 2 between Opotiki and Te Karaka. Thirteen of them arrived in Gisborne for the first round of supplies on 16 February and 15 left the city that afternoon to restock.

“We did that in big numbers. And we did quite a bit of relief work for various charities. We were putting a whole lot of stuff together, there was an aeroclub in Tauranga that was filling up a semi-truck a day of donated clothes and all sorts of stuff.

“People had literally gone off to Briscoes and bought blankets, pillows and other things and just donated it all – still in its wrapping. We probably moved 30 tonnes of donated goods into town. I think we did three units, one into Wairoa and two into Gisborne. But it got to the stage, by Friday, that we couldn’t bring in any more.

“Somebody else rang us, another transport operator from Gisborne, and asked where to bring his stuff. I asked the council and they said not to bring in anymore because they were almost inundated with stuff and had nowhere to put it all.”

One of Mr Weatherell’s biggest and ongoing problems was, of course, paying his staff. While Starlink enabled the head office in Gisborne to issue those transactions, no one could get cash out for petrol. With no internet, there was no EFTPOS so service stations were only taking cash.

“It was a bit of a logistical challenge but we just set up an account at service stations and gave them card numbers for our guys to use if they were short of fuel to get to work or if they or their family needed to get out.”

With about 150-odd staff stationed around six depots throughout the country – 40 of whom are based in Gisborne – and in excess of 60 trucks, Mr Weatherell’s first priority was to check everyone was home safe and sound as the cyclone brought about 488 millimetres of rain to Gisborne.

As townships along State Highway 35 and much of the roading network became disconnected due to slips, all staff was accounted for but one. Kenworth K200 truck driver John Milne, carrying a load of squash, found himself at ‘Devil’s Elbow’ on the Napier-Wairoa Road on SH2 blocked by a sizeable slip on February 13.

Three hours later, heading north for about two kilometres towards Tutira, he stumbled upon and took refuge with Unison [electricity network company] workers in their ute before eventually making his way to Hastings with the help of a local farming couple, their four-wheeler, and (later) a helicopter.

“He was a very lucky man – and I’m grateful he got home safe and sound,” Mr Weatherell says.

But it highlighted for him a problem a lot of road transport businesses like his face on the East Coast – a lack of communication, even in the right conditions.

“The stupid part about it is, we’ve got two satellite phones that we purchased probably four or five years ago. But they were costing about three or four grand a year to keep going and we weren’t using them much at all.

“We use them mainly for the Waioeka Gorge because there’s no coverage, in case one of our guys had an accident, a breakdown or had mechanics going in there at nighttime.

“Problem was, a lot of them struggled to use them so I got a bit frustrated with them and let the whole thing lapse – two of them are sitting in boxes. Then, of course, we come to a situation like this and they would have been the handiest thing you could possibly get.

But of course, we had no way of contacting Auckland to get them reinstated again.”

A picture is worth a thousand words, and the damage is best described by the aerial shots of what Cyclone Gabrielle left behind in its wake. Mr Weatherell says some of the slips on the Otoko Hill near Te Karaka started 300-400m above it bringing with roads, dirt, farms and large chunks of forest.

“The sheer volume coming down the valley and landing on the roads – there’s nothing much we can do about it,” he adds.

Just recently, further rain in Gisborne isolated Te Karaka after heavy rain washed out a section of State Highway 2. The region was saturated and has become increasingly fragile, as geotechnical crews were out inspecting broken roads and slips, including cracks at Otoko Hill, on 26 June.

Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty flew into Gisborne on June 23 to support the region and was shown around by Mayor Rehette Stoltz the following day. In the seven days after that, 546mm of rain was recorded inland from Ruatoria, with around 240mm in the city.

There were 46 local road closures on top of what was already closed following Cyclone Gabrielle, said the Minister at the time.

“The faults coming through on our road network are increasing with severity with washouts, slumping and slips being reported to Civil Defence. We’ve had more slips around Whataupoko overnight, and concrete bollards have been installed to stabilise some sections.”

It doesn’t make for easy living, especially for Mr Weatherell who is continually disappointed to call customers about their produce not making it to its destination. But, all things considered, he says everyone has been very accepting.

“They’ve been awesome. I’d like to think we’ve got a reasonable sort of relationship with most people out that part of the world. When something like this happens, they look after our guys and we look after them – there are a lot of good people.

“But it’s amazing – you take the internet away and the world just grinds to a halt.”