Images of those who died in relation to the cyclone are on display in the courtroom. Photo / RNZ, Alexa Cook
By Alexa Cook of RNZ
The man in charge of the emergency response during Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawke’s Bay was worried about putting people in danger if he issued an evacuation alert earlier, a coronial inquiry has heard.
The third week of the Hawke’s Bay phase of the inquest began this morning with Land Search and Rescue capability and development manager Edaan Lennan giving evidence.
The acting group controller for Civil Defence in Hawke’s Bay has explained why he did not issue an emergency evacuation alert to residents earlier in the night.
He said there was a lack of information and it was hard to get a reliable picture of what was happening because of the darkness, so they agreed the best option was for people to “shelter in place”.
Lennan admitted he was “aware that there were significant gaps” in his “situational awareness”. He feared that issuing an EMA “was the more dangerous course of action”.
His reasoning was that an EMA would not be any help to people already experiencing significant flooding or anyone who had climbed on to their roofs, and worried it may lead to people putting themselves into danger by trying to drive when there was a risk of slips, falling trees and being trapped in floodwaters.
“I considered that it was possible that the last safe moment to evacuate may have already passed, without anyone involved in the emergency response realising that was the case,” said Lennan.
Last month the inquest heard from the hydrologist in charge of flood forecasting during the deadly Cyclone, who could not explain why it took two hours for him to tell Civil Defence about a failure with the river level monitoring equipment because of a power outage.
When Cyclone Gabrielle struck the region on February 13, 2023, Lennan was employed by Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC) in Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management (HBCDEM) Group Emergency Management Office.
Because the main group controller for civil defence, Ian Macdonald, was away on leave during the cyclone, he put Lennan and Iain Maxwell into the top role in his absence.
An EMA (Emergency Mobile Alert), was not issued for Esk Valley until 5.19am on February 14, by which time two people had already drowned and many more residents were clutching on to their rooftops, desperately hoping to be rescued.
Lennan told the court that at some point between 3am and 3.30am on February 14, he held an emergency style meeting with local civil defence controllers and the emergency services to decide what to do next.
The decision was made not to issue an EMA at that point. Although the coroner’s lawyer Nick Whittington pointed out that an email at 2.10am from the hydrologist clearly told civil defence the Esk River was at the highest level ever recorded.
“Is that not a clear indication that what ever it looks like out there... the predictions are out the window?
“Was there no consideration of sending an EMA at this point?” asked Whittington.
“Not that I recall,” said Lennan.
Lennan said “you wouldn’t want to send an EMA without understanding what was happening on the ground”, but Whittington disagreed. He queried whether residents could have been sent a message about the record river levels.
“Isn’t this a wake-up call? Don’t they need to be alerted to the fact this is going on?” said the lawyer.
Lennan agreed they could have possibly issued the mobile alert earlier to inform residents about the situation, but he also believes evacuating people in the middle of the night could have put people in harm’s way.
A state of emergency was not declared until about 4am on February 14, and Whittington questioned Lennan about whether there was a link between civil defence waiting for an emergency declaration before issuing an EMA.
Lennan was hesitant to say if that was the case, instead pointing to the risk of issuing too many emergency mobile alerts, saying it can cause anxiety and result in a less responsive public response.
“You can create a lot of harm to society in over-alerting... or create independence on an alerting system,” he said.
Whittington pressed him further, asking if civil defence has a pre-conceived view that a mobile alert should only come after a declaration of emergency.
“It’s something I’ve thought about... I don’t personally think I had that pre-conception,” said Lennan.
On February 13 there were about 30 people in the Group Emergency Co-ordination Centre, but by about 10pm most of those staff had gone home or were heading home.
Lennan said they had “skeleton staff” overnight, which included himself and several liaison officers from different emergency services.
Whittington asked Lennan why there were not more staff working overnight, when the cyclone was expected to intensify.
Lennan explained the complications behind using council staff for civil defence jobs.
“There are challenges with staff personal circumstances and the human factors as well, with asking, say a person employed to be a librarian - to then come in and work in an emergency co-ordination centre,” he said.
Lennan said finding people who were willing and able to pick up civil defence shifts could be tough, for example they may have whānau or animals they need to look after, or childcare challenges.
“It’s not only that we couldn’t find people for overnight, but also that we wanted to be a bit strategic with our rest period, send people home so we could get them back early the next day,” said Lennan.
Whittington asked Lennan whether the issue of finding enough civil defence staff was a persistent issue that had never been solved.
“It’s been a continual known challenge in Hawke’s Bay and across the country,” said Lennan.
Lennan was also questioned about a conversation with Hawke’s Bay area commander Inspector Lincoln Sycamore, in which he requested extra Army Unimogs to be sent from the New Zealand Defence Force’s Linton base.
Whittington said this conversation took place on Sunday, February 12, but Lennan said he doesn’t recall it.
“I only remember talking to him once on a Friday, nothing on the Sunday.”
Whittington said Sycamore wanted extra Unimogs in the region in case the cyclone struck with greater intensity than forecast.
Sycamore’s witness statement said Lennan told him that it was not necessary.
“I would like to think I was not dismissive to the head of police in Hawke’s Bay... doesn’t sound like the type of person I’d like to be,” said Lennan.
In his evidence, Lennan stated that Civil Defence was not authorised to deploy police resources.
- RNZ