A security camera captures the moment a family flee their Twyford home and the Ngaruroro River breaches its stopbank after Cyclone Gabrielle. Video / Iain Trotter
Iain Trotter’s security camera stayed running while his family packed and fled rising floodwaters in the rural Hawke’s Bay community of Twyford.
The footage he found when he came back could prove a valuable tool for understanding just what happened in the community near Hastings.
Almost half a day aftercatastrophic flooding began to sweep down the Esk Valley north of Napier, the Ngaruroro River also breached its stopbank.
Instead of the middle of the night, it was about midday on Tuesday that floodwaters began to rise for residents of Twyford.
Trotter said he had to drive through floodwaters to escape the home, and his family was able to stay with friends at Bridge Pā.
He observed water reaching the top of the stopbank of Raupare Stream before they left.
The camera shows floodwaters rising after the family departs, but the video shows the water continuing to rise after they had fled, reaching past windowsills and over halfway up the house in less than two hours.
