Ian Cadwallader’s voice catches and he’s lost for words as he re-enters his neighbours’ home on Dartmoor Rd, west of Napier.
Just days earlier, the longtime resident of the Puketapu/Dartmoor area fought against raging floodwaters that had almost completely submerged his neighbours’ property, fearing what he would find inside.
“I’m thinking, ‘Right, three dead bodies’,” Ian confessed.
Homeowners David and Mary Wesley concede they had given up on hoping for rescue, believing they and their son would perish.
“We thought we were going to drown in there,” David said.
The Herald came across 65-year-old Ian along Dartmoor Rd, riding his motorbike through the debris left behind by Cyclone Gabrielle as countless families alongside contractors start their own devastating clean-up.
Claiming his family had lived in the area for more than a century, Ian took the Herald through the property of David and Mary Wesley in the hope the Government would appreciate the true extent of support it must provide for people who had lost everything when Gabrielle landed last week.
On Tuesday morning when the flooding was at its worst, Ian battled through neck-deep floodwaters to approach the Wesley household.
“I’m standing here and a deep freeze comes flying past at a great [rate of] knots,” he said.
He made his way into the kitchen that now sits utterly decimated, silt penetrating every nook and cranny.
Ian takes a moment as he describes what happened next. In his attempt to open a door, a wall of water and debris knocked him backwards, plunging him beneath the surface.
“I’m bloody lucky,” Ian chokes out through a lump in his throat.
Ian had suspected the family of three would be huddled on a table in the lounge but they were nowhere to be seen.
Desperate, Ian went down the hall and he heard a noise from above.
“They heard me and they were up in the ceiling.
“They’d said their prayers and said goodbye, they honestly didn’t think they were going to live.”
In a stroke of luck, David had recently changed a lightbulb and the ladder remained in the hallway, providing lifesaving access to the ceiling not otherwise possible for the 80-year-old pair and their son.
Upon finding the family, Ian raced out to seek help from others and managed to extricate them using a tractor.
The Wesleys are now staying with the Cadwalladers. Mary can’t bring herself to return home - the trauma is still too raw.
Recoverable possessions are rare. David’s British heritage is evident through the 17th-century furniture that adorned their home. All pieces are ruined.
There are brief flickers of joy. A brass jar belonging to Mary’s great-great grandmother survived, needing a clean.
What’s left of their belongings are drying in the sun after being washed by old pool water with power still off for the area.
Thirty years ago, the Cadwalladers contributed $300,000 to form a stopbank - the same one that was effortlessly overcome last week.
Ian didn’t think the area would ever be the same, saying the disaster had changed its future.
“I don’t think we should build the houses again.
“If I was an insurance company, I wouldn’t let anybody rebuild here.”
Dartmoor Rd was renowned for its wineries and orchards, contributing to key Hawke’s Bay industries.
While some of the bigger operations might recover, Ian sympathised with those who’d spent millions ahead of harvesting - money that had washed away with the floodwaters.
He called on the Government to provide support for flood-stricken families, something tangible and immediate.
“We’re all pretty depressed ... the Government has to get involved in the clean-up.
“We need a Covid payment type, we need financial help.”
Paunovic moved to Havelock North with her family from Croatia seven years ago.