Cyclone Gabrielle: Hawke’s Bay residents hit hard by storm fear for friends; 13 still ‘uncontactable’

As the clean-up in Hawke’s Bay continues after the devastating Cyclone Gabrielle, fears are growing in a rural community for locals who are still “uncontactable” 12 days on.

Areas such as Esk Valley, Puketapu, Dartmoor and Pakowhai were devastated by the raging flood waters, silt and mud when the cyclone struck. The official death toll from Cyclone Gabrielle is 11; with the majority of those deaths in Hawke’s Bay.

Police have confirmed that there are still 13 “uncontactable people” in the Eastern District. “Getting in touch with those remaining 13 remains a priority for police and we are working as fast as we can, using a number of different methods,” a spokesperson said.

Puketapu resident Nelson Wang told the Herald on Sunday he and others in the area had fears for people they knew in Dartmoor who no one had heard from since the cyclone struck. “We know people in Dartmoor who are still uncontactable,” he said. “There are people we know [not yet contacted] . . . you see each other in the pub, go hunting together and help each other out. I haven’t seen them for a while.

“It has been pretty inaccessible and communications are still pretty patchy. But having driven down there, even for a kilometre, it is absolute devastation. It makes this place look like a walk in the park.

“And, unfortunately, we did have one death in our village, in the Puketapu area, and we feel very sad about that.”

Puketapu resident Nelson Wang with his two boys, Jamie, 4, and Lachie, 1, at their badly damaged home. Photo / Ian Cooper

The body of Marie Greene was found by searchers in the roof cavity of the Puketapu cottage she lived in.

“Houses can be rebuilt, and things replaced, but people can’t,” Wang said.

Access to one of the other Hawke’s Bay areas hardest hit by Cyclone Gabrielle – Esk Valley – was reopened to residents on Saturday afternoon.

The valley was evacuated by Civil Defence, with the help of the New Zealand Defence Force, on Friday given further flooding fears ahead of heavy rain.

It meant residents whose properties hadn’t been destroyed by the floodwater, silt and mud – as well as those who were working on their badly damaged properties – had to leave the area.

A section of SH5 was reopened shortly after 2pm with several homeowners taking the chance to return to the devastated valley.

As they turned into SH5 they were greeted by a cardboard sign saying: ‘‘You loot, we shoot’'.

Hawkes Bay Civil Defence group controller Ian Macdonald said that the hydrologists’ assessment of the Eskdale River gave him confidence that it was safe for residents to return home.

“This has been an anxious time for everyone who was evacuated yesterday [Friday], on top of the stress caused by the cyclone,” Ian said. “We are continuing to keep a very close eye on the rivers.”

The rain has also mobilised more silt onto roads and caused further surface flooding so Waka Kotahi is urging people to take extreme care, watch for debris and slips, and avoid unnecessary travel.

MetService meteorologist Ciaran Doolin said it would be a bit of a “seesaw” across the country next week, with sunshine for the south and rain for the north over Monday and Tuesday, then vice versa.

There was a moderate risk of heavy rain in the Coromandel and Gisborne areas around Monday and Tuesday, and low risk of heavy rain for Auckland, Bay of Plenty and Hawke’s Bay.

Doolin said there was an easterly flow pushing the band of rain across the north-eastern parts of the country.

“That’s probably the more immediate thing to look out for for the North Island,” he said.

Meanwhile, the South Island was “continuing to see largely pretty nice weather” and that was going to carry on for the early part of the week.

“However, they are going to see, in sort of the middle of next week, a front push across them, which means conditions are going to deteriorate.”

The West Coast was most likely to be affected, he said.

The weather will start to improve for the North Island at that time.

Wellington will be neither the best off, nor the worst off, he said and will experience a little bit of everything.

Back in Puketapu, Wang – who is married with two young boys aged one and four - was today continuing to strip his badly damaged house.

Most of the homes in the township have been stripped down, with Wang saying it had been a “community effort”.

“This place is completely devastated,” he said.

His own home – on the main street – is on a raised part of their section.

Flood water in Nelson Wang's house in Puketapu reached chest height. Photo / Mike Scott

But when the big rain hit, and the nearby river overflowed, not even that could save it from the flooding.

“We didn’t get any warning,” he said.

“Lucky I have two good alarm clocks. My two boys came in at 6am and said there was a swimming pool in the backyard. I went and had a look and the water was up to the trampoline.

“Within 20 minutes it was up to our knees [in the house], and within another 10 minutes it was up to our chest.

“It was just that fast. If you were outside on the ground level it was flowing very fast and you would have been swept away.”

The family grabbed a few belongings and escaped.

Flood waters had surged over nearby stopbanks, which are 5 metres higher than the bridge on the outskirts of Puketapu, which was completely destroyed.

“For the water to go over the stopbank, you can imagine this biblical amount of water,” he said.

“If they could have the stopbanks higher, maybe it could have saved our valley.”

Wang and his wife Paula Barlow have lived in the Puketapu house for about two-and-a-half years.

Almost two weeks on, the interior of the beloved family home is now a shell.

Carpet and other floorings have been ripped up. Gib and insulation from interior walls have been removed just above the line where the surge of water reached.

All appliances were destroyed and have been removed from the home.

Ruined appliances waiting to be collected line part of the main street through Puketapu. Photo / Ian Cooper

On the main street of Puketapu, scores of white-wear appliances have been lined up for delivery to the dump.

Wang said assessors had yellow stickered his home, meaning that the foundations were still sound but it was not currently livable.

The plan was to try to repair it, with Wang saying his family did not want to move on from their rural retreat.

“It will be a monumental task . . . we wanted to get everything [the frame] dried out and wait for the insurance to get in touch with us,” he said.

“There was a question in the beginning whether we would come back. But just seeing the community spirit and the way everyone banded together, this is a community I want to be a part of.

“After this, and how it has brought the community stronger together, I would want to live here again.”