Weather

Tolaga Bay farmer on Cyclone Gabrielle: 'It's total f****** carnage'

09:27 am on 14 February 2023

In Tairāwhiti, farmers near Tolaga Bay saw forestry slash and land damage from winds and heavy rain as a result of Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: Supplied / Bridget Parker

Tolaga Bay farmer Bridget Parker says she's at the end of her tether coping with forest waste creating floods that destroy their land.

Three major flood events have now impacted her farm in the past year.

Bridgett is beyond angry with silt and water through their home, sheds and farm - and logs strewn across paddocks, far worse than the January flood.

She tells Nine to Noon that government ministers and overseas forest company owners ought to visit their farms and see the devastation.

Listen to the interview (Contains strong language)

This is one of Kathryn Ryan's favourite interviews of 2023: 

"We rang Bridget the morning after the fury of Cyclone Gabrielle and the devastation of forestry slash on her Tolaga Bay farm - a repeat event. The rawness of her blunt and heartfelt exposition of exactly what she was seeing as she walked the property, had us all spellbound. As The Spinoff put it: You need to listen to this heartwrenching interview."