New chapter ahead of Gisborne couple uprooted by Cyclone Gabrielle

Clint and Rachel Daly at the empty site on Grant Road where their beautiful riverfront property once stood only to be severely damaged during Cyclone Gabrielle’s rampage, and ultimately demolished. Picture by Paul Rickard

February 13-14 marks a year since the home of Gisborne family Rachel and Clint Daly and their children Tayne (23) and Kalea (18) was destroyed in the path of Cyclone Gabrielle. After six months in Australia, Rachel and Clint returned on New Year’s Day unsure of what the future held for them, but with a sense that Gisborne would always feel like home. They spoke with Gisborne Herald journalist Kim Parkinson.

The lives of the Daly family changed forever when their idyllic riverfront property in Grant Road was devastated by floodwaters when Cyclone Gabrielle struck the region 11 months ago.

Recounting that fateful night, Rachel said she had had a bad feeling earlier in the day so decided to move all of the family’s photo albums and videos to safety.

It proved a wise decision. The photos were saved, unlike most of the family’s other worldly possessions.

The family self-evacuated at about 10.30pm after getting an alert from Gisborne District Council as torrential rain kept coming and the nearby Waimatā River rose quickly.

They went to Rachel’s aunty’s place where they were able to keep an eye on the property using security cameras they had installed.

“At around midnight we could see we needed to get back there to move the cars and save whatever we could,” Clint recalls.

“When we got back to the house we were in shock as the floodwaters had gone through the whole house,” Rachel said.

“We waded through water up to our chests . . . . everything was floating. It was totally overwhelming. We were crying and screaming.

“Luckily our daughter had put our two cats up high on our bed, which was also floating.”

They managed to shift their cars to higher ground, then got into Clint’s four-wheel-drive truck and headed out of Grant Road  along a flooded Riverside Road only for the vehicle to get swamped.

“The truck had cut out and the water was rising on each side of us,” Rachel said. “It was around three in the morning by this time. I managed to get out and swim, and then I ran — first to my friend’s house in Clifford Street and then on to mum and dad’s.”

Clint also get out of the vehicle and pushed it to the side of the road using the momentum of the water.

Looking back, both realise they were lucky to get out of that situation alive.

“We didn’t sleep for two days. Our friends and family were amazing, and we got rubbish bags and salvaged what we could, but there wasn’t much — just some clothes up high in the wardrobes. The cupboards were full of silt.”

The family was left homeless, traumatised and facing an uncertain future.

They stayed with Rachel’s parents for three weeks, then moved into a rental property in Stout Street for three months.

“It was a really tough time,” Clint said. “We couldn’t move forward. We just had to live day-to-day. All we wanted to do was go back to our home but it wasn’t possible.”

The pair work as real estate agents at Ray White and Rachel said the team was very supportive and took over the handful of listings they were working on.

As they tried to come to terms with what had happened they found it difficult to leave the rental and couldn’t face going out into the public.

Team Daly are well known in the community but they didn’t feel up to recounting their story whenever they ran into people they knew.

They were approached by television news teams wanting them to go on camera and tell their story.

“That was the last thing I felt like doing,” Rachel said.

Almost a year later, the couple finally feel ready to talk as a way of getting some form of closure.

Theirs was one of the first properties to be red-stickered in Gisborne. They had only recently finished renovations to their dream home, which they had been working on and improving over the past seven years.

“We worked hard for 20 years to get a riverfront property,” Clint said. “But it makes you question what it was all for . . . when everything is lost in one night.”

“We were both grieving for a long time and it put a strain on our relationship. One person would be up one day and down the next, and we were trying to balance each other.”

Feeling numb and full of pain, they made the decision to move to the Gold Coast, where Clint has family.

There they were able to come to terms with the situation, get the help they needed and begin to heal.

“We spent numerous days in the ocean at Burleigh Heads and reconnecting as a couple,” Rachel says.

Clint also spent time surfing and paddling wakas with his brothers.

The couple said the Gisborne Council had been great to deal with during the process. Mayor Rehette Stolz visited them at their property after the event.

The insurance side of things was not so easy.

“It was very frustrating dealing with the insurance,” Rachel said. “We were passed around to so many different people and I had to be the squeaky wheel and keep on to them./

They received a payout last June, which meant they could start moving on with their lives, and bought a two-bedroom unit in Robina on the Gold Coast.

Their Gisborne home was demolished in August by demolition contractor Peter Burgess, who they say did a great job.

They returned to Gisborne on New Year’s Day.

They had no idea how they would feel but knew they had to face their recent past.

“We needed some closure and when we went to the property and saw the empty site, it was a strange feeling,” Rachel said.

It was easier to see a vacant site rather than the scene of devastation when they left it.

“It had looked like a bomb had exploded. Everything was destroyed — waterlogged and full of silt.”

The couple were apprehensive about returning to Gisborne but have loved catching up with family and friends over the summer, and have a real sense that this truly is their home.