Care packages are being sent out to people cut off by the floods with the first 15 parcels flown out on Tuesday morning. Margaret Vickers of Rural Women New Zealand says the group used money from their community fund to help finance the parcels, with Stratford New World, Federated Farmers and Rural Support Taranaki also supporting the effort.
Civil defence provided the group with a list of households in need of assistance and any specific requests, including vital medicine or medical equipment as well as generators, candles, matches and food. The team at OnFarm Safety in Stratford gave the use of their office to help co-ordinate the parcels before delivery.