Cyclone Gabrielle: Three people remain missing; Esk Valley resident left wondering why evacuation warning never came from Civil Defence

By RNZ

The number of missing people who police are seeking to make contact with across Hawke’s Bay after Cyclone Gabrielle has dropped to three.

Police Superintendent Jeanette Park urged the people left to make contact with police to make themselves known.

“For the people we are looking for, please, if you are aware we are looking for you, come forward,” she said.

In making a special address to the family of Joseph Ahuriri, Park appealed for information from the public to help find him. She said police didn’t believe that the cyclone was responsible for his disappearance.

Earlier

Questions remain for Esk Valley locals about the extent of warnings when Cyclone Gabrielle hit two weeks ago.

Daryl Gilbert put his aunt and sister in a boat tethered to the roof where the rest of his whānau waited for hours above floodwaters beside State Highway 5 on February 14.

Civil Defence gave some locals a warning, but not them, he said.

“We asked them, ‘How come you didn’t come warn us?’ ‘Cause they warned a couple of houses around here.

Daryl Gilbert. Photo / Phil Pennington / RNZ

“They just assumed that we were already gone. But as you would’ve seen, all our cars were still here.”

Gilbert hoped there would be an investigation.

“It’s a bit gutting,” he said.

Hawke’s Bay Emergency Management said it did not have the capacity to look into it now, but would do a review later.

“The people who were working during the early stages of the response are off-shift,” it said on Monday.

Damage in Esk Valley. Photo / RNZ

The team was “still fully focused on the response to Cyclone Gabrielle”.

“Our practice is to carry out a post-event review of all emergency responses.”

Gilbert said he understood gates across the highway inland were closed late that night, and some people were warned around 1am.

Emergency Management said Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency had advised it the gates on SH5 were not closed that night.

Gilbert’s household of seven got themselves up at 2.30am, but by then it was too late.

“Our cars were pretty much engulfed.”

They cut a hole in the upper wall of the shed to get out their boat, though it was not big enough to take all of them. Large logs and trees floated by.

“I was worried the house was gonna roll cos, as you can see, that big tree over there, that was coming straight for us ... then a water tank hit the other side of the house.”

A lifesaving boat came by midmorning, though it was three young men in a boat who eventually rescued them.