The remains of the Karekare home of Amber and Paul Rhodes. Video / Hayden Woodward
A Karekare woman screamed “go, go, go” to her husband and daughter to flee their house seconds before they ran outside to safety before a massive slip destroyed the family home.
It wasn’t until hours later at 3 o’clock in the morning that Amber Rhodes said she dared to think what would have happened if she, her husband Paul and their 14-year-old daughter had left five seconds later.
“One-hundred per cent if we had stopped to say ‘do we really need to’ the outcome would have been too terrible to contemplate,” she said.
Amber Rhodes, Paul Rhodes and their daughters Winter Rhodes (second from left) and Beatrix (right) at Karekare in about 2021. Their Karekare home was destroyed in Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Supplied
Still shocked at the fast-moving events of last night, Amber Rhodes said the house was about 500m from the car park and tucked right up against the hillside which usually made it well protected from the wind.
At about 6 o’clock last night, she heard a thud and saw a section of sand and silt hit the back of the bathroom wall.
“We were trying to gather stuff to get out and I heard another thud and I said to my family I think we need to evacuate and to gather what we needed to get out.
“We went out and saw more (material) had come down and you could sense it was moving. I went inside and said we need to get out, prepare to evacuate,” said Rhodes.
Sensing something was about to happen, Rhodes looked at her husband and daughter and said “go, go, go”.
“We all just ran out and down concrete steps my great uncle had put in about 50 years ago and they just started to crack and separate. We were just running.
“My husband was behind me and he looked back to look and saw the whole house sliding off the hillside,” Rhodes said.
The Karekare home of Amber and Paul Rhodes before the landslide. Photo / Supplied
The house was one of the oldest homes in Karekare, built in 1927 for the Auckland Cycling Association. It had been a family bach since her grandfather bought it in 1963 and Amber Rhodes has lived in it on and off throughout her life.
“We’ve had many, many happy times in the house and renovated it slightly about 12 years ago to modernise it and freshen it up a bit. It had its challenges but it was a place that was well-loved.
“Our daughter’s bedroom is in the kitchen. Our beautiful Persian rug is on the top of the pile of devastation. There’s a bottle of Moet in there somewhere and some good whisky, but it’s gone,” she said.
The house was the first of four neighbouring properties to be hit by a section of the hillside that has fallen away, 50 to 100 metres above the properties.
Rhodes said the family is being well looked after in a local property.
“We have got a phenomenal community at Karekare. We have seen this kind of thing before but not on this scale, but we pull together. Search and Rescue, the volunteer firefighters, Karekare resilience network, they are all doing the most phenomenal job to make sure everyone’s welfare is taken care of ... we have the best community in the world.”
The remains of the Karekare home of Amber and Paul Rhodes. Photo / Supplied
With access into and out of Karekare blocked and “stuck in here for a couple of days”, Amber, Paul and Beatrix Rhodes are looking forward to getting out and seeing their 17-year-old daughter Winter in town.
Former Waitakere City mayor and longstanding member of the local surf life-saving club Bob Harvey described the damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in Karekare last night as “very bad”, saying as well as the damage to four homes, a 100-metre section of the main road about 1km back from the popular surf beach had collapsed and vanished into the valley below.
