Hawke's Bay laundry network making sure community has 'one less thing to worry about'

For the mud-caked residents and volunteers of Hawke's Bay, cleaning clothes can make a hard day even tougher.

But a new group is hoping to spin that around by collecting, washing and drying their laundry.

When Annabel Mason co-founded the Hawke's Bay Cyclone Laundry Network, she had no idea how quickly it would snowball.

They have close to 250 volunteers and washed 108 bags of laundry last week after starting less than a fortnight ago.

It was good for the wellbeing and health of residents and clean-up volunteers to have their clothes cleaned, Mason said.

With plenty of contaminated mud and dust around, cuts or sores were at risk of infection, she said.

"They're working in pretty terrible, grotty conditions ... the silt and the mud is kind of a combination sometimes of a bit of effluent, a bit of mud, a bit of - I don't know - rotting pumpkin or apples, and people are just working so hard."

One of their clients lost his home and belongings to the floodwaters and muck.

"His thinking was that 'I really just want to have these clothes washed because they're the last reminder of my old life', and so they were clothes that he was wearing before everything was hit," Mason said.

"So we've washed them and they're a little bit threadbare. But they're very important to him, and I think it's things like that when you've had your home and your livelihood destroyed, you hold onto anything, don't you."

When RNZ visited, Mason's first stop of the morning was to the rural community of Puketapu.

She was there to pick up the laundry of a young family from Dartmoor who only have boat access to their home.

"She's been without power for the last couple of weeks, limited water, running a generator - only able to run it a couple of hours a day because of limited access to fuel being dropped in."

In Pakowhai, we drove past ruined furniture, rotting apples, pumpkins, masses of muck and plenty of mud-covered people working hard to clear it.

It was dusty and in the heat, Annabel described the smell as like a giant cow pat.

"I drove down here the other day and it's just things in all the wrong place, like apple bins stuck up in the wires, at the top of trees, and caravans kind of half sticking out of a big muddy pit."

Pakowhai resident Victoria was stuck on the roof of her two-storey home with her whānau for eight hours before they were evacuated.

Three weeks later, the clean up has been slow, muddy and far from over.

But she said it was heartening to have one less thing on her mind.

"We've obviously lost everything, like our home, our land, our cars, our animals - not our pets, thankfully we got them out," Victoria said.

"[It] may seem like a small token in the whole gist of what's been going on, but it's just been massive for us to have one less thing to worry about.

"The whole team have just been absolutely amazing, coming out here. There's been food, there's been washing, antiseptic cream, sanitisers. Everyone's here with a smile and open arms."

The Hawke's Bay Cyclone Laundry Network has teamed up with the food network to limit the number of cars on the roads and get supplies and washing where they are needed.

Some of the gear was so dirty the laundry volunteers had to hose it down outside before it could get near a washing machine.

Mason said they did not just collect and clean laundry.

"We've got socks, we've got gloves, we've got medical packs to help with people who are getting infected sores on their hands and things.

"We've had a beautiful donation of some kawakawa insect repellent from someone down in Palmerston North. We've had these beautiful laundry bags made by a sewing group."

Taskforce Kiwi has 30-odd volunteers based in Hastings, most were defence and emergency service veterans, who provide skilled resources to kickstart recovery.

Volunteer Maureen Duffy said the laundry network was making their days shorter and easier.

They arrived with their packs and not many changes of clothes ready for hard mahi, she said.

"It's a lot when you get back in the afternoon. So we were doing laundry at eight, nine o'clock at night, and it's an hour, hour and a half of people's time."

The network's co-founder, George Miller, was inspired by a photo of a volunteer who was covered head to toe in muck without a change of clothes.

"My instant thought was 'gosh, if there's one person like that, there's 100 more like that, and what are they doing with their clothing after a day in that muck'.

"The last thing you'd want to do is start washing your clothes at night time."

She was grateful for the many donations including washing machines, money, and laundry bags.

Laundry network volunteers do the washing at home or at the former men's changing room at the Havelock North Rugby Club, which has been transformed into a makeshift laundry after a thorough clean.

"There's washing that's coming in that is filthy and it needs somewhere to be water blasted off. We've got a high pressure hose in there and so it's perfect for what we need."

In the corridor, there were 36 bags from the now-closed Flaxmere evacuation centre, ready to be cleaned.

With no end in sight for the clean up, Mason and Miller said they were preparing to be even busier in the coming weeks.