The heavy rain hitting northern Hawke’s Bay last week had been an unpleasant reminder of Cyclone Gabrielle for the 89-year-old as it pelted her temporary “pod” abode in the backyard of her property.
Shortly after 8am on February 14, 2023, the banks of the Wairoa River broke and Mei’s home where Crarer St turns into Ruataniwha Rd was one of just over 100 properties in Wairoa hit by 1.5 metre flood waters.
The mother of six had no whānau living in Wairoa and lived alone, but she was whisked away by a neighbour who came to warn her before the flood waters arrived.
“I wasn’t sure what she was talking about when she came to get me, because the sun was shining,” Mei said.
It still feels strange to call the cyclone by her name.
“I’m a bit frightened of what people might say when they hear what my name is,” she laughed.
From her backyard which was once again under water 15 months later, Mei laughs again as she describes the only memento she still kept from before flood waters tore through her home - an old bath plug she found embedded in the mud.
“When everything is washed away you’ve got no shoes, no gumboots, no raincoat. You struggle to get clothes and stuff,” Mei said.
“I found the bath plug. I thought ‘Oh my goodness’.”
Her home is finally in the last stages of the repairs and she said it will likely be ready for her to move back into next month.
“I think the last stage is the painting, then they will do the flooring and the carpet and all that.”
Wairoa resident Gabrielle Mei pictured days after Cyclone Gabrielle. She hopes to move back into her house next month after living in a "pod" on her property. Photo / George Heard
She has lived in Wairoa for most of her life, outside of a 20-year stint in Wellington during which she missed the impact of Cyclone Bola on the region.
“I didn’t realise what a cyclone was really because I had never been in a flood like Bola,” Mei said.
She did remember flooding in Wairoa during the North Island storm of 1948 when she was about 12 years old.
Highways and country roads suffered damage and all parts of the Wairoa district, except the Wairoa borough, were without power anywhere from one evening to three days and Wairoa was without water for a week.
“It was a lot of water, it came through the same way as it did for Bola and [Cyclone Gabrielle],” Mei said.
James Pocock joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2021 and writes breaking news and features, with a focus on the environment, local government and post-cyclone issues in the region. He has a keen interest in finding the bigger picture in research and making it more accessible to audiences. He lives in Napier. james.pocock@nzme.co.nz
