Cyclone Gabrielle miracle: How a massive sinkhole near Hawke’s Bay coastline saved lives amid flooding destruction

Bay View publican Adrienne Morrin is still shocked at the images of mud-soaked Cyclone Gabrielle survivors arriving at her hotel near the swamped Esk Valley and Whirinaki.

She says the tragic loss of life in the area would have been much more catastrophic if it wasn’t for a huge sinkhole that was created after land in coastal Whirinaki collapsed under the pressure of a massive wall of water.

Eleven people died in Cyclone Gabrielle, the majority in Hawke’s Bay.

The speed at which the floodwaters grew through Esk Valley and then Whirinaki on the morning of February 14, 2023, is staggering and horrifying.

Some residents from the latter area have recalled how ankle-depth water coming through their properties rose to neck height in just 20 minutes.

Morrin was no stranger to hearing stories of bravery and near-tragedy in the days after Cyclone Gabrielle.

That number has steadily grown ahead of the first anniversary of the tragedy, as more people have shared their terrifying first-hand accounts.

Included are from people in Whirinaki; with some residents saying they believed they owed their lives to a massive sinkhole that opened on paddocks running parallel to SH2 and Pohutukawa Drive.

“Even now there are stories that you hear and go, ‘Oh my God’,” Morrin said.

“They have started to write a book out here which has certainly brought things to light, even more things to light, which is good. You are still hearing stories now of what happened to particular people.

“[What has shocked me] is that not more people were killed. While the damage was devastating, we are so lucky that it stopped raining and that the sinkhole opened up behind Pohutukawa Drive.

[The sinkhole] is huge, it is massive. You can’t see it from the main road ... it is pretty big.

A large sinkhole that occurred in paddocks at Whirinaki, on the outskirts of Napier, has been credited with helping save lives on the morning of Cyclone Gabrielle's flooding on February 14, 2023. Photo / Neil Reid

“I don’t know how some people managed to survive. [There] is a relief in thinking that it could have been far worse, even though it was really bad, than it was.”

The sinkhole can be seen from Pohutakawa Drive, one road from back from the beachfront North Shore Rd.

It was created as a section of land gave out to the pressure of the water above, described by locals as like a surging tidal wave.

The ragged-edged basin – with the remnants of what were once amenity cables protruding through the soil walls remaining – provided an immediate, much-needed path for the floodwaters that decimated part of Whirinaki to escape off the coastline.

One local, who did not want to be named, said they feared what would have happened to the area – and its residents – if not for the sinkhole.

A sign of relief outside a house on Pohutukawa Drive, Whirinaki, a year on from Cyclone Gabrielle as the rebuild continues. Photo / Neil Reid

The woman said the size of the sinkhole was “hard to comprehend” and she believed if it hadn’t opened, all properties on North Shore Rd would have been swamped.

Just 6km away from the devastated Whirinaki, Morrin awoke after Bay View had been hit by “really bad” winds overnight.

But it also wasn’t raining.

While it had rained overnight, Morrin initially did not think the rainfall recorded could have caused the destruction that was to become clearer as the day progressed.

“The only reason we were aware of what was going on was my son was a volunteer firefighter. So we knew that things were really bad up in the valley,” she said.

Bay View Hotel & Holiday Park publican Adrienne Morrin opened her doors to Esk Valley residents who were evacuated out of the area devastated by Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Neil Reid

“I went down to the fire station to help record, because they need recorders down there around what was happening, and by about 10am the police had asked us to open up as an evacuation centre.

“It all went from there.”

Morrin was to become one of the kind-hearted heroes of the immediate Cyclone Gabrielle response.

She said opening the doors to the Bay View Hotel & Holiday Park was a no-brainer.

Until emergency generators were later delivered, it initially had no power, but it did offer shelter for those who desperately needed it.

“And that was the main thing,” she said.

Morrin said she was left shocked by the state of Esk Valley and Whirinaki survivors as they started arriving at her hotel.

They were suffering from shock, some escaping with only the clothing they had gone to bed in the previous night.

The community clean-up in progress at Whirinaki in the days and weeks that followed Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Warren Buckland

“Fortunately, a lot of people just went to sleep because they were exhausted,” she recalled.

“Some people didn’t even come out with very many clothes on. Just being able to get them in fresh clothes and hose themselves off was the first thing.”

Morrin provided free accommodation to survivors – who had nowhere else to go - for several days after Cyclone Gabrielle.

Eventually, people started to leave; some relocated to a larger evacuation centre at McLean Park, others to friends or family, or motel accommodation provided for them.

Like so many others in Hawke’s Bay, Morrin said Cyclone Gabrielle felt as if it happened a year ago – given the amount of stress and ordeals since - and at the same time much more recently.

An aerial photo showing extensive flooding at the Pan Pac Forest Products mill at Whirinaki after Cyclone Gabrielle hit.

“There are triggering events around, like the earthquake last [on January 25]. That happened in the early hours of the morning and you immediately go to that ‘What is going to happen next?’ type of thing.

“It takes a while for you to trust things again.”

Morrin said she believed another triggering factor for some in the community was the onset of heavy rain.

That includes a spell of wet and wild weather that hit Hawke’s Bay last month.

“[Cyclone Gabrielle] just shows that it can happen at any time,” she said. “We just have to be prepared because that is all you can do.”

Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 30 years of newsroom experience. He was on the frontline of NZME’s coverage of Cyclone Gabrielle when it hit Hawke’s Bay and closely followed the clean-up operation that followed.