Cyclone Gabrielle: Mother of Ivy Collins says drowned 2-year-old was ‘bright shining light’, tragedy has cost family ‘everything’

The mother of the 2-year-old Eskdale girl killed during Cyclone Gabrielle says her daughter was a “bright shining light” and the family is mourning the loss of “our beautiful baby girl”.

Ella Collins told the Herald that Ivy - who was swept away on floodwaters early on Tuesday morning - “charged through life with a beautiful smile on her face regardless of what stood in her way”.

“Everyone that met her was astounded by her ability to communicate well beyond her years; her exceptional vocabulary coupled with deep empathy and compassion, and a thirst for knowledge led to days filled with excellent conversation!

“She had a great sense of humour, was very creative and determined to overcome all obstacles (even if sometimes that took a lot of velociraptor screeching in frustration!),” Ella Collins told the Herald.

Ella Collins shared this photo of her with Ivy because it brings her peace knowing this is what her daughter looks like now.

Ella, who is pregnant with her third child, and husband Jack were woken about 3am on Tuesday with water inside their home in Eskdale, Hawke’s Bay.

Ella said the family were not wealthy “but we lived such rich and love-filled days”.

”Our children are our life,” she said.

”We take pride in our complete devotion to our babies, and this loss of Ivy will deeply impact ourselves and many others forever. Right now it seems an insurmountable mountain but we have each other; my husband Jack, our daughter Imogen, our baby due in August and our families, friends and community.

“We all have each other. This tragedy has cost us everything; our home and everything in it, with the water level 10cm from the ceiling everything has been utterly destroyed, our section and our incredible lovingly tendered edible garden.. nothing is salvageable.

“But none of that loss compares even close to the loss of our beautiful baby girl.”

It was dark in the house, there was no power and the couple decided to take a child each on their shoulders and get to their neighbour’s house and on to their roof.

‘They knew they had to get out’

Seven people have been confirmed dead in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle, including two-year-old Ivy Collins, whose family’s home in Eskdale was flooded.

Jack’s brother Adam Collins earlier told the Herald the family were woken about 3am on Tuesday with water inside the house.

The couple, Jack and his pregnant wife Ella quickly got their two daughters – Imogen and Ivy.

“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.”

It was dark in the house, there was no power and the couple decided to take a child each on their shoulders and get to their neighbour’s house and onto their roof.

“They’ve got a kid each, they go out the door, and another wave comes through on the way over to this house... it takes her [Ella] away, she says save Imogen, my brother Jack manages to scramble onto this house and rips open the roof, cutting up his arm pretty bad, and he throws this little kid into the roof space and says stay there.”

“He doesn’t know if he’s coming back... he finds his wife floating around and manages to get her back to safety... but by that time they’d lost the little one. There’s nothing they could’ve done... she had her on her shoulders and she slipped out, her feet were taken out from underneath.”

A car through a house on Shaw Rd in Eskdale near Napier. Photo / Warren Buckland

Adam Collins said his brother spent hours in the dark trying to find his daughter, including climbing a tree and yelling out her name, while also helping his neighbours get to safety inside the roof space.

“They spent the next 8 hours in their huddled up together with pink batts waiting to be rescued. They were all hypothermic...”

The family were eventually rescued from the home. The following day Ivy was found.

Collins said his brother was a hero.

“There was nothing they could’ve done more than they did...

“We are all so proud of how he responded we have no doubt that all 5 of them are still here today because of the way he responded.”

Ivy was a “beautiful little cherub... just starting to develop her own little character”.

Ella Collins posted on Facebook on Thursday that her daughter had died.

“It was an unavoidable accident and she died very quickly,” she said.

“We are all going to need all the love we can get.”

Eskdale War Memorial Church is still standing following the flooding. Photo / Warren Buckland

Search and Rescue had found Ivy’s body and she was now with a coroner, she said.

“Our home, our section and all our belongings have been completely destroyed, the water was about 10cm from the ceiling in our house and rose extremely quickly and violently.

“We were unable to make it to higher ground due to a sudden torrent of water which almost drowned us all and took Ivy.”

She said Jack Collins was the only reason she, their oldest child and neighbours survived.

“He is a literal f***ing hero and one day I will tell you all what he’s done.”

A Givealittle page has been set up for the family, which has so far raised more than $30,000.

The page said the girl’s mother is pregnant, with the family expecting a baby in August.

“In the space of five mins you lost so much, beautiful Ivy, your house, your land and your belongings.

“Your love for your kids is next level, even taking them out of daycare to be able to teach and love on them even more,” the page says.

“[The family] have no home to go back to, her beautiful gardens she had worked so lovingly in to create is gone, a land full of veges and fruit to feed her family gone”.

The woman’s husband’s work was also on hold, and the family had no income, the page said.

The family plans to hold a funeral for Ivy in Napier next week.