The Government says calls from ACT and NZ First to send in the armed forces to take over control of the streets of Hawke’s Bay after reports of violence and looting following Cyclone Gabrielle are ‘over the top’. Video / NZ Herald
Evacuated under emergency to civil defence shelters and without power or communications in their homes: that was the fate of around 1000 Hawke’s Bay retirement village residents aged 75-plus when Cyclone Gabrielle hit.
Scott Scoullar, chief executive of the $5 billion-plus Summerset Group Holdings, described how some of the area’smost vulnerable coped.
It was the hardest hit out of the four. Although that village was not flooded, the surrounding areas were, Scoullar said, hence the 48-hour evacuation. Construction is ongoing there but people have lived on that site for two years.
Residents at Hasting’s Summerset at the Orchard, Havelock North’s Summerset in the Vines and Napier’s Summerset in the Bay lost power and communications.
Those in independent villas couldn’t use stoves or ovens and lost their deep-freeze contents, although their homes were undamaged.
Crews work to clean up State Highway 5 between Napier and Taupō after Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Mike Scott
Generators maintained the power to hospitals, central meeting and dining areas and that was where residents from the three villages gathered.
“We had to use helicopters,” Scoullar said, telling how flights brought in essential supplies to the three villages where residents sheltered in place.
Food, clinical supplies and bed linen were choppered in. Laundries at Summerset hospitals couldn’t continue on the standby generators.
“We were good for medical supplies. The helicopters went between Hastings, Havelock North and Napier because the main arterial routes between Hastings and Napier were cut off for a couple of days,” said Scoullar who visited the area on Monday this week.
Asked how Summerset got access to helicopters, he said: “We’ve got very connected staff who did some amazing things and I don’t know how they did half the things.” Around 150 staff work at the four Hawke’s Bay villages.
Power was unable to be maintained to independent living villas.
“Mobile generators were a godsend. In our new villages, we’re building generators. They’re run by diesel and you do need big diesel tanks when you have them on site permanently,” he said. But it was worth putting them in to keep essential services running.
Starlink Satellite connected at the Hawke’s Bay villages was another godsend and Scoullar said residents were able to use WhatsApp and Facebook messenger to contact friends and relatives.
“We’ve got Starlink in our villages in the Hawke’s Bay villages, just because there’s always a challenge attached to base structures like cables in ground and cellphone towers. Starlink is a great means of backup communication. We’re in the process of bringing it to Auckland as well.”
Two chefs were flown to Hawke’s Bay from Auckland to help cook for people in independent living villas suffering power cuts to fridges, freezers, stoves and cooktops. Meals were provided free at the two villages on the Napier side: Summerset in the Bay and Summerset Palms.
Summerset chief executive Scott Scoullar. Photo / Supplied
“That’s about 500 meals at every serving at those two villages in the main dining halls: 500 breakfasts, 500 lunches, 500 dinners. We were also flying additional food in because we don’t normally cater for those numbers. We were bringing trucks up from Manawatu and Wellington. "
Meals were free because of the emergency situation but usually they are not free for independent villa residents.
“We also put on additional happy hours, so residents could come to the main buildings. Because we were using Starlink, they were able to watch the news at night, have a glass of wine and enjoy themselves a bit”.
Asked if mud, silt or water came into any places, Scoullar said not a single home was affected.
“It’s quite unbelievable. Only the surrounding areas were hit by flooding.”
But he said when the big new Summerset Palms was planned, concerns about flooding were considered so the entire 8ha site was covered in gravel to raise ground levels.
“The Te Awa village had high building platforms, so we put additional gravel on the entire site to ensure it drained well and it lifted up the homes so they were less prone to flooding. The whole Napier catchment, particularly along the esplanade, does have the longer-term risk of coastal erosion so when we built it, we thought of the long-term plan.”
Scoullar said his trip on Monday was “a pretty sad experience. The extent of devastation on roads home...the silt has just gone everywhere.”
Fridges and beds were brought into Hawke’s Bay to help staff who had lost their homes or suffered extensive damage.
Summerset Mount Denby in Whangārei and Warkworth’s Summerset Falls also lost power and communications due to the cyclone, Scoullar said. Around 400 people live in those villages.
So all up, 1400 Summerset residents in Whangārei, Auckland and Hawke’s Bay suffered during the cyclone.
The company’s full-year result is out today, showing revenue rose from $205.3 million to $238.7m. Net after-tax profit dropped from $543.7m to $269.1m, largely due to revaluations which had been $537.5m a year ago but just $268.8m in the latest period.
The business said it had made “a record full-year underlying profit of $171.4m, up 21.5 per cent on FY21, driven by strong development returns and growth in deferred management fees”.
“Net profit after tax reflects a level of fair value movement more consistent with historical trends,” it said.
Shares have been trading around $9.41, down 18 per cent annually, ahead of Ryman’s at only $5.45 which is down 35 per cent annually.
