Yet again after another dreadful weekend for the province we have seen, disappointingly, another build-up of slash under the bridges and along what used to be beautiful, pristine beaches.
Our beaches used to be helpful in promoting tourism for the area. Alas, not these days as they are covered in wood debris along our coast — and our roading system to the south through Wairoa and beyond to Napier is totally wrecked.
I feel very sorry for Mayor Stoltz and her council as well as those involved with clean-up jobs in the whole of the area, both in this region and in the Hawke’s Bay north of Napier.
Councils and farmers must be dismayed with the amount of slash that is still making its way down the rivers and causing so much disruption. I am told reliably that there is still much yet to be washed down the valleys.
It is well past time that the logging companies that harvest the forests, and to some extent the local farmers who are cleaning up their farms, stop leaving felled trees and branches etc to be washed downstream in the storms that we are having so often.
Without the slash, the damage from these storms would be far less, and cost less to repair as well.
Surely it is time for some legislation to be introduced — and enforced! — to stop this from happening in the future.
Robert Scott
