Cyclone Gabrielle: Whangārei cat reunited with owner following storm

Lyric Godsmark, 25, suffered only minor injuries when her sleepout was destroyed by a falling tree. Photo / Lyric Godsmark

A Whangārei woman who somehow escaped with only minor injuries when her home was crushed during Cyclone Gabrielle has now been reunited with her much-loved cat.

Lyric Godsmark had moved into a Glenbervie cabin just two weeks before it was flattened by a large pine tree on February 12.

Little remains of Lyric Godsmark’s Glenbervie cabin after it was hit by a falling pine tree. Photo / Lyric Godsmark

The 24-year-old said she survived because she ended up in a space between a wall and the flattened roof.

She suffered only bruising to her head and arms and an ankle sprain but had grave fears for her cat, Baby, which was with her when the tree hit the cabin but could not be found in the wreckage.

Four days later, however, her landlord’s son spotted Baby looking through the smashed remains of the cabin.

Godsmark had Baby checked by a vet who found the cat was “as healthy as anything”. Both are now staying with her grandparents in Whangārei.