Cyclone Gabrielle: Vet hunkers down with pets during storm

Dr Clive Hambly with a patient at the Taradale Vet Hospital.

Flooding at the Taradale Vet Hospital might be nothing new, but Cyclone Gabrielle brought new challenges for clinical lead veterinarian Clive Hambly.

Early on the morning of Tuesday, February 14, after heavy rain at home, Clive decided to head into the clinic in Gloucester St, arriving just after 7am after driving through flooded roads.

“Our clinic was flooded in November 2020 when a weather bomb hit the Napier area, but no water was coming into the clinic or any of the surrounding houses this time,” Clive says.

There were a couple of patients in the hospital - a dog they managed to discharge early and a cat on intravenous fluids that they were hoping to carry out ultrasound and x-rays on during the course of Tuesday morning.

“I did contact the owner suggesting that he stayed with us in a clean, dry and warm hospital kennel. The cat cages are raised so I was sure he would be safe even with minor flooding.”

A large number of their staff couldn’t get to work on Tuesday morning and were advised to stay home, or if unsafe to get to an emergency centre.

“We lost power during the morning and unfortunately did not have a backup generator. I did fortunately have a torch in my ute but that was the only lighting, apart from a head torch, used for certain surgical procedures.”

Clive says an emergency alert came through at about 11am to evacuate Taradale. All the staff had already been sent home, so he checked their outpatient was safe with food and water and high up in the hospital.

“I then blocked up the access doors to the clinic and drove down Gloucester St to Meeanee Rd - this was when I saw the water flowing down Murphy Rd like a river.”

Clive then headed back to wait and see if the flooding came all the way down Gloucester St to the clinic.

“That fortunately never eventuated but I soon heard that Napier was cut off from Hastings with the bridges washed away or closed.”

As the power was off and communications were down, Clive wasn’t able to let his wife or family know that he was now stuck in Taradale for a while.

“I was told by the traffic management team at the Meeanee overbridge that I may have to wait days before the bridge would be reopened.”

As the on-call clinic for the Taradale and Napier area, Clive decided to sleep the night there.

“I collected some of the cleanest, best dog blankets from the hospital to make the night as comfortable as possible. I did have one client knock on the doors at about 11pm.”

The next day a number of the vets and vet nurses from the Taradale area came in to help at the clinic.

“I helped to organise a rotation of vets and nurses to be present throughout the day and for emergencies that night. I then headed back to the overbridge but the road and bridge were still closed.”

Clive says he recognised one of the traffic management team at the control point from the day before.

“At that stage he had done 27 hours at the station. He did mention at that point that they had heard the Awatoto bridge through Clive might open for ‘emergency vehicles’.”

Clive says he was stopped at a checkpoint along Marine Parade and told he couldn’t travel through to Clive.

“Eventually late on Wednesday afternoon I did manage to travel across the bridge and finally got home close to 5pm.”

He says the clinic did have a few injured pets in just after the cyclone, including a dog that had been rescued from a roof in the Pakowhai area.

“I am sure there are many stories of family pets being rescued and some really sad stories where they have not been able to be rescued. My advice to pet owners is to pack emergency pet supplies with your own emergency kit and to keep a transistor radio, with batteries, in your kit.”