Our very own Hawke’s Bay announcer Justin Rae aka JRae has shared his account of the ‘bizarre and surreal’ surroundings in the region with the ‘difficult’ Cyclone Gabrielle.
Joining The Project NZ last night, JRae spoke on how he has continued to broadcast and get communication to the local community via a 50-year-old+ generator powered by diesel that one loyal listener provided.
“We managed to hand crank it to get it started yesterday when the power went off… we filled it up with diesel, fortunately, one of our listeners heard we needed diesel and delivered it to us, so we managed to keep the radio station on air all day,” he said.
JRae also spoke on how getting Civil Defence information on the disaster was proving to be extremely difficult due to the overwhelming traffic on the phones.
“It was trickling in, it was difficult to get any information out of anybody, in fact, it got to a point where we got that desperate to get some information from Civil Defence and all the emergency services, that I just came down here and did an interview on-site.”
Now that’s the dedication to the job that we like to see.
“We knew the importance of passing on that information to the public, it’s crucial that people know what’s happening and what they need to do.”
Radio is crucial in times like these to be able to connect and provide reliable information to our audiences and we have seen that time and time again as Aotearoa has been in a state of emergency.
JRae ended his interview by sending his well wishes to those affected and said it was “heartbreaking” to hear the stories of his local community is truly devastating.
Will Maisey, Content Director for The Breeze says: “We're extremely proud of The Breeze Hawkes Bay team who are working tirelessly to keep everyone in The Bay informed and connected.”
We would also like to wish anyone affected by the cyclone our deepest condolences and wishes for a quick and successful recovery on the back of this disaster.
