Hawke’s Bay man Earle Taka found dead during severe weather after being missing for months

Earl "Pat" Taka at a family wedding last year. His body has now been found after he went missing three months ago. Photo / Taka family

A much-loved grandfather who’d been missing for three months has been found dead following flooding in Hawke’s Bay.

Earle “Pat” Taka, 66, a long-term resident of Ōtāne, last used his bank card at an ATM in Waipukurau on March 13. That was the last confirmed sighting of him.

He was also reportedly spotted at his home a week later on March 20 and had been missing since.

His family and police made multiple appeals to try to locate him and the police helicopter was even dispatched in early June to look for him.

In a statement on Saturday, police said Taka’s body was found on Tuesday afternoon by a contractor who was carrying out flood protection work in the waterways of the Ōtāne area.

Police had concerns for Earle Taka, known as "Pat", who had been missing since March.

Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti were slammed with torrential rain during that period, causing flooding and prompting evacuations as well as local states of emergency.

Police said they did not believe his death was suspicious and a post-mortem examination had been carried out.

Taka had four children, who lived outside of Hawke’s Bay, as well as grandchildren and was very well-known in the Ōtāne area.

He did not own a car and would routinely hitchhike from his home next to Te Aute College to Waipukurau or Hastings to buy groceries or get his pension.