After a day off to catch up on washing, and make a minor contribution to the economy of Norsewood, as expected on my return the intel and ops functions were merged for efficiency and to help with the CHB staff return to their BAU. At the controller’s insistency, his invitation for me to be duty controller yesterday morning was overridden by the rostered break.
Staff welfare is something that is given high priority. COVID awareness is maintained, each of the
surge staff receives daily check-in calls from NEMA on welfare, and we all risk
going back a couple of kilos heavier.
Roading, Waipawa water treatment, welfare and comms remain
the focus. Due to heavy traffic limits on the
Patangata Bridge, we procured and installed a motion capture camera, in
addition to installing chicanes to limit heavy traffic. We are taking bets on whether the camera will
still be there when we go to download the data.
Another of the roads was looking like needing cameras. One of the main logging back roads between Central Hawkes Bay and Tararua district has had a recent slip, after the cyclone event. This reinforces that slips can still occur after the actual event, as the land finds its new equilibrium. An underslip has closed this road which has necessitated an extensive detour. While the road is looking able to be opened to light vehicles, it remains unsuitable for logging trucks. This has led to some “escalated driver responses” and a need for the farmers to physically park a digger and tractor on either side of the slip. These were replaced with concrete bollards with gaps measured to accommodate a Ford Ranger ute. With Central Hawkes Bay being the ute capital of NZ, the road crew considered this a suitable measurement. It's not so much that "every second vehicle is a ute", but more that every 9th one isn't.
Two more cameras were procured from Hastings as our last purchase (of 1) depleted the local supply, and a request went out to NZDF for checkpoint personnel to help dissuade the logging trucks. This was not considered a priority so cameras were our next option. These restrictions are frustrating and incur real inconvenience and costs for trucking operators. The reality is that these measures are needed for reasons of health and safety, but also to avoid extended time for repair if the road is further compromised by heavy traffic. This has been something of a challenge, with (some) drivers seeing the road as looking Ok on the surface without an appreciation of structural integrity. For a hard core few there is also an anti-authority sentiment. This could be resolved with Dawinian natural selection if a truck did happen to fall off a road, but the fact is that this would then require an avoidable emergency response, possible hospital costs and time or inconvenience to an undertaker, and further delays to all road users on having a serviceable road. Those living local to these areas have been very cooperative and happy to assist as they appreciate the need to maintain viable roading connections.
After an hour’s discussion amongst several people involving 4 EOC functions and one credit card, cameras were duly purchased from Hastings and we made an after-shift run to the district boundary to install them, with python cable locks, in as inconspicuous locations as we could, which still afforded line of site to the concrete bollards. The road crew were genuinely concerned that a persistent logging driver would hook their snig chain around the bollards to enable passage and were keen to catch them in the act. We were pleased to find our Mitsubishi Titon fitted comfortably between the Ranger-wide bollards with many millimetres to spare. Hopefully the cameras will be there in the weekend when we go to download the photos...
Below: Rural road slip necessitating physical barriers and camera monitoring to deter keen logging truckers (location unspecified to avoid compromising the camera placement).
Tukituki rail bridge showing some debris
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