Bub Dewes' home near Ruatōria, an artwork years in the making, was seriously damaged in strong winds last week. On the right is the aftermath of the incident. Photo / Bub Dewes
Bub Dewes' home near Ruatōria, an artwork years in the making, was seriously damaged in strong winds last week. On the right is the aftermath of the incident. Photo / Bub Dewes
An East Coast-based artist felt like he was in “one of those tornado movies” when strong winds tore the roof off his home.
Bub Dewes’ house, 10km up a gravel road near Ruatōria, is more than his home of nearly 10 years; it is also one of his largest artworks.
“It was like 10 o’clock at night, I couldn’t really go outside to see what was going on because I might get my head chopped off by corrugated iron flying everywhere,” he said.
“There was just no stopping it, so I just went into the garage, which was still standing. That was dry, so I put some stuff in there with me and just waited until the sun came up,” he said.
“The sun didn’t really come up, it was just more rain and it was just total carnage.”
A shot of the top of Bub Dewes' house after wind tore off the roof. Photo / Bub Dewes
In the morning, Dewes found his roof had been flung over to a nearby paddock, with debris scattered across his property.
He had a couple of scratches but was otherwise left unharmed.
The rain persisted and Dewes was temporarily isolated as the nearby stream flooded.
“I would start clearing stuff and moving things and it would start raining again. It was an absolute nightmare,” Dewes said.
“I had no phone, no internet, no power. I couldn’t get out to contact anyone to see what was going on. I was like ‘Am I the only person who has had this happen? Is the rest of the world ok?’ It was hectic.”
By 5pm Tuesday, the stream level allowed him to cross and he went into town to contact people for help.
Bub Dewes next to one of the walls of his house.
Dewes called Boss Blackbee of the roading company H Blackbee Contractors, who gathered some extra help.
“I was really thankful for that. If I didn’t have people to talk to like that, I don’t know what I’d be doing,” he said.
“I was just losing my mind really. There was so much happening and I was like ‘What do I do, what do I do?’.”
Debris strewn over Bub Dewes' property last week after strong wind tore at his home. Photo / Bub Dewes
On Friday, Dewes was still in the midst of a “full-on” clean-up with the help of a few friends.
“Heaps of people” came to help.
Dewes intends to move back in when the house is ready and has plans to create more art.
“I think I’m going to try and get some paint and maybe paint the inside as crazy as the outside now, since it is going to be empty.”
His art is a mix of street art with Māori influences. He attended Toihoukura School of Māori Visual Arts in Gisborne and has exhibited locally and internationally.
Dewes said his art and belongings appeared to be mostly okay, but there was still a lot to go through.
He described the past year as crazy in terms of weather.
“I’ve been flooded for nearly five months of the year. It has been that hectic in terms of the weather. It is not normally like that. It has been intense. A bloody hard year,” Dewes said.
“Flooding is easy, but getting your roof ripped off was like ‘s***, what do I do there? How do I deal with that one?’.”
