Hawke’s Bay surf lifeguards who’ve spent most of their lives patrolling sunny beaches rescued about 250 people at the height of Cyclone Gabrielle flooding - and they say it’s a miracle the number who perished in the region was not much greater than the eight counted by police.
The numbers of rescues – 46 in Esk Valley, about 190 in the areas off Pākōwhai Rd and others who haven’t been counted – have been revealed in a compilation video aired on social media by long-serving lifeguard Rhys Harman and confirmed by regional Search and Rescue lifeguards co-ordinator Jess Bennett.
It was the first operation of its type in the region for the growing lifeguard component of Search and Rescue.
Four inflatable rescue boats (IRBs) were used in the initial emergency in Esk Valley, where many incidents were barely describable, and Bennett says: “What they were getting into was incredible. We’re very proud of the teams and what they did.”
In contrast to the many rumours claiming large numbers of fatalities, there were no deceased for the teams to recover, although Bennett said:
“From what we saw on the day – we could see houses floating down the river - I initially thought [there would be] hundreds of casualties.
“While it is a huge tragedy, it is a miracle the loss wasn’t much greater. There were some extremely heroic people that day.”
Training had prepared the crew for emergencies, and some had been involved in missions in other regions, but she said there was little that would have prepared anyone for what happened in Hawke’s Bay on February 14.
The rescuers, using a fleet of IRBs from local clubs Waimārama, Ocean Beach-Kiwi, Pacific and Westshore, assembled in town beforehand because of forecast large sea swells and the risk of possible inundation of the coastal clubhouses and boatsheds.
The rescues were carried out mainly in Esk Valley and the Pākōwhai area within about 16 hours, in a near dawn-to-dusk operation initiated by an alert before 6am.
Bennett said the request was received at 5.17am and a team was soon gathered at Bay View Fire Station awaiting the all-clear to put to the water, where people were already clinging in the dark to rooftops, trees and fences in a desperate battle for their lives amid losing everything else they had.
She said it was initially considered too dangerous to enter the waters in the dark, but as soon as possible, the IRBs were being launched directly off the road near Eskdale School, and later in the day off the Expressway to make rescues around Pākōwhai Rd.
Sometimes there were the unique navigational features of water-surface obstacles such as trees, fences, posts and wrecked buildings used in directions to addresses where road signs and street numbers were submerged by the floodwaters and not visible.
The number rescued using the IRBs could be as high as 300, plus numerous animals, by the time day one ended in the dark after 8pm, with crews having no idea what would follow the next day.
The crews swelled in number to a total of almost 80 lifeguards at various times as support from other clubs outside Hawke’s Bay arrived, including more IRBs, as the response phased towards supporting the recovery, including ferrying supplies and people.
Asked if there was a moment that stood out, Harman could think of many, but particularly recalled rescuing RSE workers from a rooftop barely above the floodwater in the vicinity of Enliven, on Pākōwhai Rd, between Napier and Hastings.
They were struggling with salvageable goods, such as power tools and radios, and Harman said: “It was then I realised they probably had their lives in the hands, everything they had and they wanted to take back home.”