Cyclone Gabrielle: Chris Hipkins gives Govt response update - death toll now eight, 37,000 Hawke’s Bay homes still powerless, morgue set up at Napier port
There are potentially thousands of Hawke’s Bay residents who are yet to be contacted by emergency services, but Prime Minister Chris Hipkins promises as many resources as possible are being provided to assist in the cyclone response.
Hipkins has been in Hawke’s Bay today surveying the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle.
Speaking with media from Bay View just north of Napier, Hipkins did not provide specific details on when power might be returned to Napier and surrounding areas, saying a more fulsome update would be given later this evening.
Hipkins arrived in Napier this morning along with Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty, Forestry Minister and Napier MP Stuart Nash and Minister Meka Whaitiri who is MP for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti.
The team has been briefed on the local response and toured some of the region’s hardest-hit areas, including Esk Valley, where one child was killed and many homes destroyed as floodwaters and silt tore through the small community.
There, Hipkins has been meeting with those affected along with first responders.
The number of fatalities from the disaster stands at eight, however, Gabrielle has reportedly claimed another victim.
The Taranaki rugby league community is mourning the death of local club stalwart George Luke, the father of former Kiwi star Issac Luke, after he died following a slip on the Taihape-Napier road.
Marie Greene was found by her landlord’s son, her Wellington-based daughter Rachel told Stuff.
Police have grave concerns for some of the 3500 who are still uncontactable.
‘Stop using water now’
Gisborne residents have been told to “stop using water now” as the region faces more setbacks due to the failure of a water treatment plant at Waipaoa.
Emergency supplies have made it into Gisborne today but fresh water access continues to pose major problems.
Tairāwhiti Civil Defence said: ”This is a major crisis our city has no water. Don’t turn your taps on.”
In Auckland, a fresh evacuation order has been issued for residents in Muriwai today.
Muriwai Volunteer Fire Brigade issued an urgent notice asking Domain Cres residents to evacuate immediately: ”We have been advised by Auckland Council Emergency Management that all residents still occupying houses on Domain Cres are to evacuate immediately,” the fire brigade said.
”If you know of people still there please contact them to pass on this message.”
Meanwhile, a temporary morgue has been set up at Napier Port amid fears more people will be found dead in the devastation wrought by Cyclone Gabrielle.
The body of a man aged in his 70s was found in Waiohiki in Hawke’s Bay yesterday.
More than 37,000 Hawke’s Bay homes remain without power today - 31,630 of these are in Napier.
Some supermarkets in Napier have power and are now open but shoppers entered to find many shelves were empty - and nothing in the frozen section.
Meanwhile state highway links in several areas of the North Island are re-opening as floodwaters recede and slip debris is cleared - but Waka Kotahi is urging people only to travel where and when necessary.
Food, water, shelter and internet connections are being rushed into east coast regions still reeling in “shock” days after Gabrielle smashed into the country. Navy ships, Air Force transport planes and truck convoys are all making their way into isolated Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti Gisborne areas as teams hurry to bring relief and reach stranded communities still not visited by emergency crews.
At least half a dozen homes appear to be abandoned with significant flood damage along Dartmoor Rd in Puketapu, west of Napier. In one home the Herald visited, silt and mud had almost filled some rooms. A note had been written in the sand at one property saying “Zara has dogs”, seemingly a message to evacuated residents who could return to the site.
Carolyn and Brian Whittington are rescued by a USAR team from their property at Puketapu which was cut-off by Cyclone Gabrielle floodwaters. Photo / Mark Mitchell
According to residents, police were unable to provide any concrete details on when power or telecommunications would be restored or when supplies like fuel, water or portaloos might be provided. Officers were also unable to confirm whether there had been any new fatalities linked to the area.
Prime Minister Hipkins said family and friends have lodged about 3500 reports of missing people - most in the Hawke’s Bay region - that have been “unreachable” since Monday’s deluge began. This is despite emergency teams bravely making more than 450 rescues during the height of the storm, including plucking some people by helicopter from roofs as floodwaters raged below.
As of yesterday, 9000 people were estimated as being displaced in Hawke’s Bay while an estimated 3718 were displaced and evacuated in Northland and Auckland, Hipkins said.
Thousands of homes – most in the Napier area – remain without power, while some residents in cut-off communities in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay have had to make purchases in cash only and have been faced with dwindling food and water supplies and long petrol queues.
In Auckland, the emergency response has shifted to the badly damaged west coast communities near Muriwai, while much of the rest of the city shifts into recovery mode. Likewise, Waikato, Thames, Bay of Plenty, Manawatu and Whangarei are all also “fortunate to be scaling down their emergency response and entering the recovery phase”, Hipkins said.
Cyclone Gabrielle has hit Gisborne hard, with State Highway 35 near Mangatuna completely cut off due to a bridge being washed away. Photo / George Heard
Te Karaka Area School inundated by floodwaters. Photo / Gisborne Herald
However, the sense of emergency remains acute in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay, he said.
Having visited Gisborne yesterday, the Prime Minister said the damage on the ground was extensive and that members of the community reported having felt “very isolated, very alone”.
“A number of the people I spoke to are in somewhat of a state of shock. There is absolutely no doubt that communities affected by recent weather events are under enormous pressure,” he said.
He said the focus on the East Coast remained an emergency response as 100 police and hundreds of defence force personnel moved to get supplies and support into the region.
“It is quite possible there will be smaller communities that haven’t been reached yet,” Hipkins said.
“That is exactly what the focus is at the moment in terms of getting those door-to-door search teams out there to help make sure we’re identifying any that have been cut off.”
Auckland
The widow of the volunteer firefighter, veterinarian and father killed in a slip at Muriwai on Monday night spoke yesterday to remember him as the “cornerstone” of her family’s lives.
Dave van Zwanenberg died helping evacuate residents and is being remembered for his good humour, his authentic care, his astronomic intelligence and supreme competence at anything he turned his hand to.
Zwanenberg was among a team of emergency responders battling to save lives in Muriwai where more than 200 people were evacuated from homes in the area earlier this week as rising waters and landslips destroyed and damaged homes.
Days later, access to Muriwai and parts of the West Coast including Piha, Te Henga (Bethells Beach) and Karekare still remain “severely compromised due to landslips”, Auckland Emergency Management reported yesterday.
As late as Wednesday evening, about 20 homes in Piha were still being evacuated due to land instability, and an exclusion zone remained in place for large parts of Muriwai.
Emergency teams earlier delivered 12 tonnes of supplies to cut off Karekare, while elsewhere across Auckland 16,000 homes were without power early yesterday, down from 25,000 a day before.
Aerial photographs show the extent of damage caused by a landslip at Muriwai. Photo / George Heard
Access to the West Coast remains restricted. Photo / George Heard
About 760 properties in Counties Manukau in the city’s south were also without power.
That number is expected to have reduced by this morning, although supplier Vector said it was having trouble accessing some parts of its network due to damaged and cut-off roads.
Auckland residents – especially those in Helensville and Parikai - have also been asked to reduce water use with the treatment plant in Muriwai being offline.
Engineers have also red-stickered 46 buildings since Cyclone Gabrielle, and yellow-stickered a further 101.
Since January’s flooding, about 2281 buildings have either been red or yellow-stickered in the city.
The discovery of the body of a man in floodwaters was yesterday confirmed as the fifth death during Cyclone Gabrielle and has added to the stress felt by a region severely cut off.
It comes as relief efforts have been hampered by major roads into and around the district being cut off, including State Highway 2 stretching from Opotiki to Gisborne, and down the coast towards Napier in Hawke’s Bay.
That was making it very difficult to deliver food and water supplies and establish power and communications networks - with the area now enduring a drinking water crisis after the main supply line was damaged.
Vodafone NZ CEO Jason Paris said connectivity for Vodafone was back in Gisborne last night.
Gisborne city mobile connectivity live. Boom! Amazing job by the team. 💪👏 Stay safe.
Hipkins said reaching isolated communities and establishing internet connections was a high priority, especially given residents in places such as Te Keraka had earlier been stuck on top of a hill for 27 hours, not knowing whether help was on the way.
They were among people who evacuated to higher ground as the Waipāoa River breached in multiple places, destroying properties in its path.
With fibre cables into the region damaged, emergency teams were delivering 10 more Starlink satellite units, while five had also been delivered to Wairoa and Hawke’s Bay.
A bridge over the Hikuwai River between Tolaga Bay and Tokomaru Bay was taken out during Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Supplied
To supply water, a convoy of trucks was making its way along SH2 – which remained closed to the public so road crews could repair it – towards Te Keraka.
Two Navy ships and numerous Air Force transport planes had also been tasked with delivering supplies and water treatment plants to Gisborne and Tolaga Bay.
Army Unimog all-terrain trucks were also delivering supplies to remote areas, while the police Eagle helicopter would join surveillance missions assessing damage and looking for cut-off residents.
A further 100 police officers were being brought in from around the country and forward-based in Hawke’s Bay to provide support to Gisborne.
Hipkins warned that while the worst of the weather had passed the threat to life and property remained high due to land instability and other dangers.
Napier resident Lauren said her home town felt “almost apocalyptic” yesterday as communication lines remained down and locals rushed to buy up supplies from supermarkets, and long queues formed for petrol.
With roads south towards Hasthings, west towards Taupō and north towards Gisborne all cut off and major flooding in Napier’s suburbs, the city’s mayor Kirsten Wise urged residents to only buy what they needed.
Authorities managed to reopen bridges and roads connecting Napier to Hastings yesterday afternoon, but power suppliers reported there were still close to 40,000 homes in the area without power.
That left some residents like Lauren relying on Wi-Fi connnections at places like the supermarket.
Wise expressed sympathy to those unable to contact their loved ones and urged people to continue trying to check on whanau and friends.
Authorities were, as late as yesterday, evacuating more homes in Napier’s inner Drumpeel Rd and its flood-hit suburb of Taradale.
Cars and homes were swamped in Esk in Hawke's Bay. Photo / Warren Buckland
Shocking new photos of the massive flood damage in the Esk Valley, inland from Napier along the road to Taupo, and where dramatic rescues and tales of survival had taken place during Cyclone Gabrielle, also emerged yesterday.
The images showed upside-down cars and trees having been catapulted through houses by the raging floodwaters.
Homes can be seen caked in mud and silt several feet deep.
Power lines could also be seen, bending over and significantly damaged, while large chunks of the vital Napier-Taupo Rd have simply disappeared.
Further north along the Hawke’s Bay coast, Wairoa also remained cut off and the subject of urgent relief efforts from emergency teams.
Three Starlink connections were being set up, while emergency food boxes and barbecues were flown in along with other supplies to support families whose homes had been inundated.
Elsewhere in the North Island, emergency teams were still looking to create an access route to Ākitio in the Tararua District, south of Hawke’s Bay, where the route is only accessible by 4x4 vehicles at the moment.
