Back to help flood cleanup

A Blenheim man rolling up his sleeves for flood recovery in Australia says the relief of affected residents is half his reward.

Peter Adams is heading back to New South Wales this week for his second deployment with Taskforce Kiwi, a volunteer disaster relief organisation founded last year.

He will spend a week in the town of Forbes, where severe thunderstorms brought intense rain and flash flooding to the already-saturated area late last year, washing through businesses and homes.

Adams said he was no stranger to flood recoverybecause of Marlborough being so floodprone, particularly in the past few years, and wanted to put his practical skills to use.

‘‘It’s just good to help the Aussies out. A lot of it’s just about talking to people and seeing if they’re OK ... and then helping them out so they’re in a better state of mind.’’

Adams’ first deployment with Taskforce Kiwi was to Lismore in NSW’s northeast in September.

‘‘They had horrendous flooding there, so we were doing everything from clearing debris, water blasting mould out of people’s houses, some of them had no insurance and wanted to move back in.

‘‘There was just mud up to my knees, everywhere . . . debris on all the fences.’’

For some of the flood-affected residents, the scale of the damage was so major they just didn’t know where to start, Adams said.

‘‘And a lot of them don’t have a massive support network if their family doesn’t live nearby. So it doesn’t take a lot to make them feel better, which makes us feel really good too.’’

Adams grew up in Marlborough but as a former police officer had lived in Auckland, Christchurch and Tu¯ rangi before returning to his hometown of Blenheim. His career gave him a lot of skills he was able to put to use in the voluntary work, he said. ‘‘Just being able to talk to all different people and make them feel better about things.

‘‘But you don’t need to be ex anything, you just have to be a little bit empathetic.’’