The mother of a 2-year-old girl swept away in floodwaters during Cyclone Gabrielle believes her family’s “immense trauma” could have been avoided if authorities had acted sooner.
Ivy Collins - earlier described by her mother Ella as “a beautiful little cherub” - died on February 14 last year as Cyclone Gabrielle bore down on Esk Valley in Hawke’s Bay.
Ella Collins didn’t wish to comment to the Herald this week but said in a Facebook post on Tuesday the tragedy was preventable.
“One phone call and seven lives could have been saved ... one phone call and my family would be whole, instead of forever lacking ... the property loss was inevitable, but my daughter didn’t need to die that night,” she said in the post.
The Collins’ neighbour, Garry Foley, is also furious that Ivy and seven other Hawke’s Bay residents lost their lives during the disaster.
Foley believed the Hastings District Council should have evacuated families the day before.
“I am f***ed off people lost their lives - that should never have happened,” Foley told the Herald.
“We have lost material things not a child, Ella and Jack wake up to that every day. It will get better but it will never go away.”
Hastings District Council chief executive Nigel Bickle said reviews of decision-making during the event - including evacuations - were under way and those findings were due in the coming months.
Foley, a diesel technician who still lives in Esk Valley, woke at 2am on February 14 to use the bathroom. It was blowing a gale and there was no power. He went back to bed and heard gurgling sounds coming from the toilet and bathroom basin, which concerned him.
“I got up again looked out the window and it was teeming down with rain.” He yelled, “Hurry up Heather, we have to get out now!’”
Heather Bates, Foley’s partner, wanted to drive to a higher spot but it was too late, the water had flooded the doorway. She was worried about Ella, who was heavily pregnant with her and her husband’s third child and felt helpless she couldn’t reach her immediately next door.
“It’s only because Garry got up, we knew how bad it was. Ella told me when they realised what was happening, they packed a few bits and pieces and told the girls they were going on an adventure, but our driveway was like Huka Falls, the water was gushing in,” Bates told the Herald.
Jack Collins’ brother Adam told the Herald last year that the family woke up to water inside their house.
“They were trying to come up with a plan, they had a few minutes, trying to get the dogs inside, organise the pets, and then this wave came through which added to the water in the house quite significantly, sort of halfway up the walls.
“At that point they knew they had to get out. It’s a one-storey house, they didn’t have roof space.”
The couple decided to take a child each on their shoulders to seek refuge at a neighbour’s two-storey house, two doors away from Bates’ and Foley’s place.
Foley said as the Collins family swam and waded on to their driveway, they accidentally fell into a sinkhole that had formed when the road was swallowed by water.
“It was around 3am, they were walking in the dark and didn’t know about the sinkhole. The saddest thing is they have walked up and down that road a hundred times then ‘boom’, they fall into one of the three sinkholes that were three meters deep,” Foley said.
Eventually, the group made it to Foley’s house and Bates let Jack, Ella and Imogen in through the sliding doors.
Before they climbed up the ceiling Ella dressed Imogen in dry clothes on a couch that was floating in the lounge.
Luckily, Foley said, they were renovating their house at the time, and had a stack of tiles that were right underneath the ceiling hatch that made it easier to climb up.
“Imogen was up there singing away, she was being a kid. It was surreal, I don’t think she knew what had happened to Ivy.”
Jack had gone back outside in a desperate attempt to find Ivy.
“I could see Jack floating down the driveway and hanging on a tree,” Foley said.
“He used the torch on his mobile phone and was yelling out. He was distraught but he did the best he could for his family.”
Bates credits Jack for rescuing them, too.
“Jack used all his strength and power to put a hole in our roof and enabled us to get ... [outside]. He is a quick thinker,” Bates said.
Tragically, Ivy was found the next morning in another neighbour’s backyard.
The Collins family have since moved away from the area, only two white plastic chairs remain on their porch.
Last year, Ella gave birth to the couple’s third child, Jack, who was born on July 19 at 10.05am weighing 3.42kg (7.34lb).
Bickle told the Herald the reviews into the council’s handling of Cyclone Gabrielle response were ongoing and the findings are expected later this year.
“As events unfolded HDC worked closely with the lead emergency agencies, through Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence to ensure they had the best information to respond in a timely way including door-knocking locations that are at risk, based on the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council weather and river information. Decisions on evacuations cannot occur until a Civil Defence emergency is officially declared,” Bickle said.
“Tragically, seven people lost their lives to the cyclone in Hastings [plus two in Muriwai; one in Napier; one in Gisborne]. We know that some people are concerned about how the event was managed, including evacuations, and that is why there are a number of inquiries into that management. The results of two of those inquiries are expected to be released in March and the third in May.”
Carolyne Meng-Yee is an Auckland-based investigative journalist. She has worked for the Herald since 2007 and was previously a commissioner at TVNZ and a current affairs producer for 60 Minutes, 20/20 and Sunday.
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