Marae opens arms for stranded travellers

‘‘I need thirty minutes.’’

That’s how long it took for the Omaka Marae to come together and house about 60 people last Saturday following widespread flooding in Marlborough.

Margaret Bond said she received a phone call from Omaka Marae manager Kiley Nepia who was stuck in Nelson, to see if they could accommodate people who had become displaced from the floods.

Bond said she called Civil Defence iwi liaison, Dr Lorraine Ede, to let her know the wha¯ nau at Omaka Marae had it covered.

‘‘It was a call-out to everyone. Some would come and help with supper, some came to set up from breakfast, some came and set up at the start, others came in at the end because that was a big task to put the marae back to how it was,’’ Bond said.

‘‘I just knew we could do it.’’ There were a couple of locals that stayed, but most were from out of the region, Bond said.

‘‘They were tourists. All different nationalities,’’ Bond said.

‘‘And the majority had never been to a marae before, but once we had some kai and took everyone over to explain everything, they loved it.

‘‘We enjoyed it, it was lovely. Manaaki (to support), that’s what our marae is about.

‘‘Especially when people were in need. I knew we had our people that would come at such short notice.’’

She said Civil Defence and Red Cross had been a huge support too.

‘‘We had 60 people there and about 10 blankets. They arrived with nothing,’’ she said.

‘‘Within half an hour Red Cross were back with blankets. I’ve always been impressed with the Red Cross and what they do.’’

Deputy mayor Nadine Taylor said the marae had managed to stand up ‘‘very quickly’’.

‘‘To take 60 people in with essentially no warning is quite a credit to them, and I think they were at capacity for that,’’ she said.

About 30 vehicles became stranded on State Highway 1 on

Saturday afternoon near the Para Wetland between Blenheim and Picton.

Taylor said that Civil Defence rescued those at the Blenheim end, with many coming to the marae.

Around 100 vehicles had been stranded at the time, but were since recovered, or moved.

‘‘Some were taken to the Picton end, so the Picton volunteer fire brigade went in and moved those that they could to the Picton end, then they also went in from the Blenheim end,’’ Taylor said.

‘‘Then logistically through Civil Defence we were able to get them from Omaka Marae back to their vehicles, so it was a multiagency event coordinated through civil defence. Police were involved.’’

Marlborough mayor John Leggett said for those motorists, ‘‘it would have been scary’’.

‘‘There were the swamp waters, which were rising,’’ he said.

Civil Defence iwi liason Dr Lorraine Ede said iwi were represented on the CDEM Coordination executive group and had developed a plan in partnership with Marlborough Civil Defence Emergency Management.

Ede said on the weekend they were with Civil Defence supporting the response as soon as the emergency was declared.

‘‘It became clear on Saturday that there were many who were stranded and with no accommodation options locally,’’ Ede said.

‘‘The awhi and manaaki Omaka Marae provided, welcomed with open arms, dinner, breakfast, a hug, a smile in what was a stressful situation for those travellers, made a huge difference with really positive feedback from those who stayed overnight.’’