Dan Gale of Eskdale says he wants to rebuild his home and business after Cyclone Gabrielle washed his caravan park away. Video / Warren Buckland
The owners of Eskdale Holiday Park want to rebuild the campground that completely flooded during Cyclone Gabrielle - putting a marker in the ground by reinstating an historic piece of the site.
The Eskdale Holiday Park sign was washed away in the deadly floods of February 14, and was discovered by a fisherman about a month later floating in the ocean near Māhia.
It was returned to its rightful home recently - a more than 200-kilometre round trip - and has now been refitted on posts at the campground.
“I grew up there [at the campground] and my parents re-opened it in 1995, and that sign was hand-carved by my dad circa ‘95,” Eskdale Holiday Park owner Dan Gale said.
Dan and Ashlee Gale and daughters Alison and Peyton with the Eskdale Caravan Park sign that turned up in the sea near Māhia. Photo / Warren Buckland
“A crayfisherman up there [near Mahia] had picked it up on his boat, and a message somehow got to my brother, who was working up there, and he picked it up.”
Gale said it felt rather symbolic putting the sign back up where it belonged, and he, his wife Ashlee and their two young daughters could not wait to return to their home and rebuild the campground.
He said they were awaiting assurance the Esk Valley was not being red-zoned and they would be permitted to rebuild, ahead of diving into repairs on the family home and campground.
“We are sitting in limbo, which isn’t a fun place to be,” he said.
The family want to go back and rebuild, and said “it is safe to do so”.
“It is safe to live in the valley, it just needs to be done properly. We need flood plans for the area, like we have tsunami plans.”
Gale said he felt there was enough information available to predict floods and to safely evacuate the valley.
He evacuated the entire campground in the days leading up to the cyclone as a precaution, using information available.
“I knew with the amount of water coming down that we were likely to flood in some capacity, but of course, I never imagined the whole valley would [flood].”
The floods raged through Esk Valley during the early hours of Tuesday, February 14, and Gale said the entire campground had been vacated by that Monday morning.
Gale said some caravans which had been staying at the campground decided to park up nearby after the campsite was evacuated, and they were impacted by the floods.
The area around the Eskdale Holiday Park has been devasted by the floods during Cyclone Gabrielle, but the owners are keen to rebuild. Photo / Warren Buckland
He said their family home was on the same site as the campground and it had been red-stickered.
“It is pretty heavily damaged at one end, but it is repairable.”
A couple of other buildings also located at the campground were severely damaged, with the exception being one of the toilet blocks, which survived largely unscathed.
Gale said he had fond memories of growing up at the campground - which he bought off his parents about a decade ago - and he would love to see his own daughters grow up there too.
