Cyclone Gabrielle claims another life, the desperate search for victims in cut-off regions continues, and Princess Anne continues her tour of the motu in the latest New Zealand Herald headlines. Video / NZ Herald
A 2-year-old girl died after she was swept away in the flooding in Eskdale, her mother has confirmed.
Six people have been confirmed dead in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle, including the child, whose family’s home in Eskdale was flooded.
The child’s mother posted on Facebook that her youngest daughter - two and a half year-old Ivy - died in the flash flooding that “completely destroyed” their family home.
“It was an unavoidable accident and she died very quickly,” said the mother, who is pregnant.
“We are all going to need all the love we can get.”
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.”
The page said the girl’s mother is pregnant, with the family expecting a baby in August.
“In the space of 5 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.
“We are still coming to terms with the news that Craig, our second firefighter caught in the Muriwai landslide, has died in hospital. All of Fire and Emergency will feel his loss, and my heart goes out to his family,” Fire and Emergency New Zealand chief executive Kerry Gregory said last night.
A friend of Stevens described him as someone who grabbed life with both hands and shook it into submission.
“I met ‘Rock n Roll Craig’ when he moved to Oxford, aged 16,” friend Alex Leech said.
”We went to many skateparks, saw bands, and listened to lots of music. I’m not really sure if he was like my son or my brother, but he was always my guide and mentor.
“He grabbed life with both hands and shook it into submission, no matter what the situation.”
