Cyclone Gabrielle: Napier mother Emma Tuck thanks ‘guardian angel’ baby daughter for saving her family

From RNZ

Cyclone Gabrielle’s fury forced a family to break through their ceiling and on to their roof as they waited for rescue.

They were lifted to safety and, a week later, were on Tuesday back at their Hawke’s Bay home, sifting through the silt to save precious mementos.

As floodwaters rose along Dartmoor Rd, Puketapu - west of Napier - Emma Tuck, her partner, aunty and four children clung on for their lives.

“It’s nuts,” Tuck said. “It’s hard to think that a week ago we were sitting on a roof, praying [for] our lives.

“I believe that day we had a guardian angel looking over us, and I know who that is... it’s my daughter.”

Community members from Dartmoor Rd use kayaks to ferry supplies after the bridge over the Mangaone River washed away and slips blocked access after the area was smashed by Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Mike Scott

Daughter Bayleigh Takie died as a baby 12 years ago, and the family drew on her inspiration last week.

“When we were getting near the end we were thinking ‘this is it’. The whole house was shaking.

“We all just started singing You Are My Sunshine, which was her song, and watched the water just go down.

“We were like, ‘Here we go. She’s here.’”

On their roof, Tuck and her family watched as a garage and a flat next to them, where her mother Kerry Hamlin lived, were swept away.

All that remains is the concrete slab foundation.

The remains of Emma Tuck's Dartmoor Rd home in Puketapu. Photo / Nick Munro, RNZ

Hamlin was staying in Hastings for the night, and early last Tuesday morning tried to direct rescuers to Tuck as the water rose.

But she was told rescuers couldn’t make it, and lost communication with her stranded family.

During that time, Tuck said the waters lapped at the gutters around the roof.

The family thought of trying to grab objects floating past, such as a container, or swimming to nearby stopbanks, but realised that wouldn’t work in the strong current.

They feared the house would collapse due to the water’s force.

“It’s just a lone gum tree that really saved us,” Tuck said. “It was catching all the logs that were coming.

“Talking to our neighbour across the road - she was watching, and she said, ‘I thought you guys were goners. Your whole house was shaking.’

“Literally, that one gum tree stopped our house from buckling and us floating away.”

After five hours, a helicopter arrived to lift Tuck and her family to safety early last Tuesday afternoon. It also took two family dogs from the roof, although Hamlin said a dog and a cat were left behind in the house’s ceiling.

The Dartmoor Bridge formerly spanned the Mangaone River. Photo / Mike Scott

Fortunately, they survived, and one of Tuck’s friends had taken in the remaining dog, writing in the silt: “Sara has your dog.”

Tuck is unsure whether she’ll be able to return to Puketapu. Through the community, she’s found a house to rent in Napier, sourced furniture, and had food delivered by neighbours as the clean-up continues.

Plenty of silt has been dug from inside and what was the front lawn is strewn with toys, clothes and other household items, including a special one in need of a wash - a New Zealand Warriors rugby league jersey given to her partner on what would have been Bayleigh’s first birthday.

Tuck had also recovered hair from her son, which she kept after his first hair-cut.

Hamlin is contemplating her future too - and trying to stay positive.

“There’s definitely a lot of humour. We were saying, ‘We need to declutter.’ We’ve certainly done that.

Emma Tuck hopes to find more mementos from the short time she had with baby daughter Bayleigh. Photo / Jimmy Ellingham, RNZ

“People have commented on my housekeeping skills before. They’ve said, ‘Come on. You’ve got to do better now.’”

For now, she’s helping with the search for family mementos from the mud and dirt - hoping to find Bayleigh’s memory box.

“We may have lost a box of memories, but we found her little bear, her little Bayleigh bear.

“It was what the kids carried around. She always featured in their photos,” Hamlin said.

“We’ve got something of her but, as I said, she wasn’t in that box anymore. She was on their shoulders, looking after them.”