Cyclone Gabrielle: Daughter says her mum found dead in her Hawke’s Bay cottage

Name: Focus: Hawke's Bay residents describe destruction in Puketapu
Uploaded: 2023-02-16T18:40:39+13:00
Description: Puketapu Hotel owner, Mary Danielson says the small Hawke's Bay community has been largely left to clean up on their own following Cyclone Gabrielle's destruction. Video / Mark Mitchell

NZ Herald

17 Feb, 2023 02:09 AM2 mins to read

Puketapu Hotel owner, Mary Danielson says the small Hawke's Bay community has been largely left to clean up on their own following Cyclone Gabrielle's destruction. Video / Mark Mitchell

A woman who was desperately trying to contact her missing Hawke’s Bay-based mother says her body has been found in her home.

Rachel Greene wrote online last night no one had heard from her 59-year-old mother, Marie Greene, since Monday and they were “desperately trying to get hold of her” or some information on where she is.

Greene said she received the call informing her that her mother’s body had been found in her cottage in Puketapu, one of the worst-hit areas of Cyclone Gabrielle.

Follow live updates of Cyclone Gabrielle here.

Her mother, who was found by her landlord’s son, is the cyclone’s eighth reported fatality.

Police said they are investigating a death in Puketapu after they were believed to have died after being caught in flood water.

Formal identification is yet to take place.

A GiveALittle page has been set up to support Greene’s family.

Cyclone Gabrielle victim Marie Greene's body was found in her cottage in Dartmoor Rd in Puketapu, west of Napier. Photo / Supplied

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The body of a man aged in his 70s was found in Waiohiki in Hawke’s Bay yesterday.

John Coates, 64, also died in floodwaters that engulfed his Te Karaka home early on Tuesday morning.

His son Chris Coates spoke to the Herald today at the property where his father was unable to be rescued from flood waters after 2am.

“During evacuation there was an incident, and there were three attempts at trying to rescue him but it was dark, there was water flowing through here,” Chris Coates said.

Prime Minister Hipkins said family and friends have lodged about 3500 reports of uncontactable people - most in the Hawke’s Bay region - that have been “unreachable” since Monday’s deluge began.

This is despite emergency teams bravely making more than 450 rescues during the height of the storm, including plucking some people by helicopter from roofs as floodwaters raged below.

If you have been unable to contact a friend or family member - or if you have fled the storm and want others to know you are safe - you can post a message here on the NZ Herald’s community noticeboard.