Two incredible photos have captured the initial aftermath and response to the devastation on part of the East Coast after severe weather last week.
Gisborne senior firefighter Dion Wilson is pictured carrying a young girl evacuated from Te Araroa Holiday Park down a State Highway 35 covered in debris last Thursday.
He vividly recalled the harrowing experience residents faced that day.
“We were so pleased to be able to help those people out of that mind-boggling situation,” Wilson said.
A firefighter for more than 30 years, he was a member of a four-man Fire and Emergency specialist water rescue team sent to help out at the top of East Cape.
Another four-man team were based in Tokomaru Bay.
“Our team – myself, Mahea Tomoana from Hawke’s Bay [also shown in both of the photos], Leon Kahn from Gisborne and Clem McGavick from Hawke’s Bay arrived in Te Araroa by road about 4pm last Wednesday afternoon.
“It was belting down and we based ourselves at the local fire station.”
After they had sorted out their gear, the team went out to assess the main risk areas and to liaise with Civil Defence, police, ambulance and local fire brigade.
“We let them know that we were there to assist,” Wilson said.
“At about midnight, they checked with their controllers.
“Then we went out to assess the flooding levels and found that we were already cut off at that point from a lot of areas.”
They got the call about a family of seven stranded on the roof of their home at Punaruku, just north of Te Araroa, at about 2.40am Thursday.
“We made our way towards them, but when we got 400-500 metres from their house, we were turned back by the huge amount of floodwaters and debris.
“There were full-sized trees flowing past us in the dark, and it was so dark you could not see them until they were right on top of you.
“It was pitch black. For us, it was an excessively hard decision not to be able to push on towards them. But it was absolutely a life-threatening situation in those conditions for our team.”
The team went back to regroup and returned when it started to get light.
“That was at about 6am and at that time the floodwaters had receded dramatically, so we were able to get across the flooding that remained to reach the family.
“They had managed to get themselves off the roof at that stage, so we escorted them to a safe location and called in a helicopter at about 6.40am.”
The family were flown to the medical centre at Te Araroa.
“After we got them safely away, two of us focused on the nearby motor camp, which had been hard-hit, too.”
The team rescued eight people from the camp.
“There was a massive slip that came down after that on the way to Hicks Bay in which a house came down into another house with a family in it,” Wilson said.
“They were able to get out themselves and we assisted them to a helicopter that we called in.”
The Fire and Emergency team got 25 people to safety during the morning.
Wilson said the scene around them was one of “utter devastation”.
“So much debris, it was mind-boggling ... vehicles overturned, trees, all sorts of debris.
“It’s been called like a war zone and that’s quite a fitting description.”
Wilson and the team came through it without a scratch.
“It felt great to be able to help those people.”
Wilson said it was a good move by Fire and Emergency Tairāwhiti management to get them up there early.
“It paid off for a lot of people.”
Tairāwhiti Emergency Management today said about 17 families were still staying in Civil Defence centres on the East Coast.
However, 66 households evacuated in Onepoto, Wharekahika/Hicks Bay, due to the risk of landslides at the weekend had returned home following assessments by geotechnical engineers.
Gisborne District Council’s Jade Lister-Baty said four properties had been yellow-stickered and would require remedial work before people coould return, while three red-stickered homes would have to be abandoned.
“They cannot be accessed at all given safety concerns that will remain.
“On Sunday, families evacuated in Te Araroa were given the all-clear to return to their properties,” she said.
“[Three] houses have yellow caveats around them advising to evacuate when there is a heavy rain forecast.”
Internet company Chorus was on track with restoring the connection to the East Cape while power was reinstated to everyone on Monday afternoon.
Anyone still experiencing power issues, was advised to contact Firstlight, Lister-Baty said.
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) said State Highway 35 remained closed between Pōtaka and the Taurangakoau Bridge, about 3km south of Te Araroa, and a timeframe for reopening the road was not known.
NZTA would have a better idea of when access would be restored later this week, it said.
Escorted convoys into Te Araroa for residents and essential supplies are taking place three times a day.
NZTA said engineers were onsite today at a large slip cutting off access between Wharekahia/Hicks Bay and Te Araroa.
The debris on and over the road was estimated at 6500 truckloads of soil.
NZTA said the full extent of the damage wouldn’t be known until further assessments were completed.
It said crews were continuing to clear a one-lane track between Pōtaka and Wharekahika/Hicks Bay.
“This work will continue during the coming days. A team of geotechnical engineers were in this area yesterday [Monday] assessing sites but access is very challenging.
“We will have a better idea later this week when access may be available.”