Puketapu Hotel owner, Mary Danielson says the small Hawke's Bay community has been largely left to clean up on their own following Cyclone Gabrielle's destruction. Video / Mark Mitchell
A woman who was desperately trying to contact her missing Hawke’s Bay-based mother says her body has been found in her home.
Rachel Greene wrote online last night no one had heard from her 59-year-old mother, Marie Greene, since Monday and they were “desperately trying to get hold ofher” or some information on where she is.
Greene said she received the call informing her that her mother’s body had been found in her cottage in Puketapu, one of the worst-hit areas of Cyclone Gabrielle.
The body of a man aged in his 70s was found in Waiohiki in Hawke’s Bay yesterday.
John Coates, 64, also died in floodwaters that engulfed his Te Karaka home early on Tuesday morning.
His son Chris Coates spoke to the Herald today at the property where his father was unable to be rescued from flood waters after 2am.
“During evacuation there was an incident, and there were three attempts at trying to rescue him but it was dark, there was water flowing through here,” Chris Coates said.
Prime Minister Hipkins said family and friends have lodged about 3500 reports of uncontactable 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.
