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Levin Tornado Event 20 May - Update Thursday 26 May 2022

Horowhenua District Council’s response after last Friday’s severe weather event has now transitioned to recovery mode, but before we tell you what this means, here’s a glance at the numbers:

· $263,461 contributed so far to the Mayoral Relief Fund

· 13 applications received to the Mayoral Relief Fund, these will go to Elected Members early next week for consideration, those that are accepted should receive their grants by Friday

· 11 families or individuals requiring welfare support are being cared for by the welfare team, three of those families remain in emergency accommodation

· We received in excess of 130 requests for help from people and organisations impacted by Friday’s event. While we still have a small number of tasks to complete, the majority of property clean-up has been done

· 300m3 of greenwaste has been collected so far

· 70m3 of greenwaste has been repurposed and used on the parks and reserves around Horowhenua or given back to people to use

· 150m3 of rubbish and greenwaste collected by Higgins

· Three skip bins of glass and general waste filled at Donnelly Park

· 51 buildings have been assessed for structural damage by our Building Advisors. A number of these buildings have required placards to be placed on them

o 20 Red placards – no building access (17 x residential and three commercial)

o Four Yellow placards – restricted building access

· Five recycling wheelie bins and eight recycling crates require replacing so far

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Monique Davidson - Council Chief Executive says, “We’ve received many requests for help ranging from welfare support to tree felling, debris clean up and building assessments. We acknowledge that for some the journey to recovering from this traumatic event may be long. Please know that support is there in many ways from a range of organisations, including Council.”

As the majority of property clean-up is complete, kerbside pick-ups have now finished, and to enable sport to commence again at Donnelly Park, the greenwaste and glass collection point has now come to an end.

Mayoral Relief Fund - Financial Assistance

If you were impacted by Friday’s severe weather event, you may qualify for financial assistance from the Mayoral Relief Fund. Applications close on Monday 13 June at 5pm.

Assistance may be given to fund:

· Damaged property

· Essentials for daily life

· Costs not covered by insurance

· Where there is financial burden due to the tornado event

· Counselling

As people apply, we may grant them up to $1,000 up front. Once we get to 13 June, we will assess how much funding we have remaining and make a decision on how to allocate the remaining amount to applicants. We are aware that some families have been impacted severely.

More information and the application form are now available online or in person at Council’s Civic Building. Our welfare response team are also on hand to help. Visit www.horowhenua.govt.nz/MayoralReliefFund, call us on 06 366 0999 or come in to see one of the team.

Mayoral Relief Fund - contributions

If businesses or individuals would like to contribute to the Mayoral Relief Fund, they can donate using the following bank account – 02-0668-0070607-002 (Account name: Horowhenua District Council, ref “Relief fund”).

Additional help and support

If you need support or advice, or have feelings of anxiety, stress, prolonged fear, hopelessness or anger, or you just need to talk with someone, you can text or phone 1737 for free to speak to a trained counsellor.

Ministry of Social Development (MSD) support

MSD is available to assist those in the community that have been directly affected by last Friday’s event. Contact MSD on 0800 559 009 and let them know you have been impacted by the tornado.

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