Job Log · February 2023

Cyclone Gabrielle
Orchard Recovery.

When the flooding hit, silt buried rows of the orchard overnight — driveways gone, irrigation lines drowned, trees standing in metres of silt. Here’s what it took to dig it back out.

EventCyclone Gabrielle

DateFebruary 2023

SiteMy Farm Rockit Apple Orchard, Waingake

Job typeSilt & Flood Debris Clearance

CrewMulti-Machine Bobcat & ASV Skid Steer Team led by Yards Ahead 2020 Ltd

The clean-up.

Cyclone Gabrielle turned this orchard into a silt trap. Whole rows were buried under a thick layer of grey silt, deep enough in places to be over head height, with at least four wires of the trellis covered. Logs, driftwood and river debris were tangled through the trees, and what used to be clear rows were full of silt.

This was the job at the My Farm Rockit Apple Orchard in Waingake, Gisborne. Around 20 canopy hectares with aproximately 40,000 plants were cleared, in 4 weeks around 150m3 per day was removed from the Orchard

It wasn’t a one-machine job. We worked it as part of a crew running several bobcats and skid steers side by side, clearing silt and debris row by row so growers could get machinery — and eventually themselves — back in among the trees.

Site Cleared 3 rows done

One orchard row cleared of silt, side by side with an uncleared row still buried in mud

Site gallery.

// before · during · after

Deep silt banked over an orchard row — **Before**Silt settled out ,about 1.5 meters deep over a full row

Large pile of silt stacked between orchard rows — **During**One row’s silt, stacked and ready to haul, soil and roots of trees able to breath

ASV skid steer clearing silt from an orchard row — **During**Machine vs. mud, row by row

Cleared row with logs stacked beside it, apples still on the trees — **Still More big logs**Big job clearing out rows, fruit still on the trees, posts and wire wiped out

Driftwood and flood debris scattered among orchard posts — **Before**Driftwood and debris swept in near the river end

Cleared driveway between rows with debris pushed to the sides — **During**Access reopened between the rows, silt and debris at shoulder height

Wide view of a flood-damaged orchard row with leaning post — **Before**The scale of it — row after row the same

The crew of bobcat and skid steer operators taking a break on site — **The crew**Five machines, plus diggers ,tractor and trailer one job, one team

Cleared track through silt and debris — **During**Another row, totally covered in silt and debris, big job

Need flood or silt clean-up done right?

If your property’s dealing with silt, flood debris or storm damage, get in touch — we’ve done this work before and know how to get it sorted quickly and properly.

Get In Touch

Cyclone GabrielleOrchard Recovery.

The clean-up.

Site gallery.

Need flood or silt clean-up done right?

Cyclone Gabrielle
Orchard Recovery.