My Account
The Mangawhai Golf Club found itself pivoting from organising a flood relief fundraiser to becoming an evacuation centre in the space of a few hours on February 24.
The club and its committee members had just finished organising a charity golf day for flood victims in the Hawkes Bay/East Coast area when Mangawhai was hit by a weather bomb that caused widespread flooding and slips.
The clubhouse quickly turned into an evacuation centre with several golfers and staff among those stranded by the rising floodwaters.
Club general manager Carry Dale says the club was able to provide food and hot showers, and she understands the emergency response team, which operated from the clubhouse, found overnight accommodation for 77 people.
It was mostly stranded motorists, but there were locals as well who had to evacuate their homes.
“A huge number of people in the community did amazing things that night,” Dale says. “So many helped rescue people, clear roads, chop trees, and then dealt with the clean-up. It was wonderful to be able to help in the small way we did.”
Dale made special mention of café contractor Alaina and her A to Z Catering team who supplied meals and left a big pot of soup out when they closed, much later than normal, that night.
The charity event went ahead one week later and raised $13,000 for Red Cross New Zealand and Golf New Zealand’s Golfing for Gabrielle initiative.
Among the items auctioned on the day were a signed All Blacks jersey from the last Rugby World Cup and mounted golf balls signed by world champion golfer Lydia Ko.
