A family walk away from flooded orchard damage after Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawke's Bay in 2023. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Parents of children still feeling the trauma of Cyclone Gabrielle are being advised to involve them in preparations for the first one to hit Hawke’s Bay since.
The Rotary Club of Ahuriri Sunrise has picked up one of the many lessons from the 2023 tragedy – that no matter where and when, storms and other calamities happen.
“Having children involved in your emergency planning gives them a sense of control,” its brochure says.
”If they are anxious about potential disasters, knowing there is a plan to keep them safe can reassure them.”
Club member Linda Paterson, from the Eskdale area devastated in the disaster three years ago, is one who took those same lessons on board.
Paterson helped start readiness initiative the Rotary First Light Grab Bags project in the aftermath of Gabrielle.
Quoting from the brochure, she said: “There were three things we used to believe: it won’t happen to me, if it does happen to me, it won’t be that bad, if it is that bad – someone will come and rescue me.
“What really struck me after Cyclone Gabrielle,” she told Hawke’s Bay Today, “is that there simply aren’t enough emergency services to get to everyone.
“And even if there were – they couldn’t reach people.”
At Eskdale School, about half of the current roll of about 300 were at the school when Cyclone Gabrielle hit less than a fortnight into a new school year.
Their upheaval included the school being relocated to sports clubrooms and other facilities at Petane Domain for about seven weeks afterwards as staff tried to normalise life again.
Hawke’s Bay’s oldest primary school, with a 167-year history, Eskdale School was undergoing a substantial rebuild at the time, principal Tristan Cheer saying that until recently there hadn’t been a day without a contractor on-site since 2019.
He said on Friday he was thankful the current alert wasn’t in school time, with pupils on their two-week break between Terms 1 and 2.
“The kids would certainly be on edge.”
The school tries to “keep it calm” by not raising issues of the cyclone or alerts other than by the regular messaging of being prepared.
“We are far better set up now,” Cheer said.
That includes the installation of solar-heating panels, along with back-up battery power and water supply, resulting from the lessons of the cyclone and necessary in the school’s community role as an evacuation centre.
Waikato Gray, who now lives in Napier having spent two years in a caravan on multi-generational land after the devastation of his family Eskdale home, said the approaching cyclone had rekindled concerns.
Gray said he had basic preparations in place, including candles and alternative cooking options, though he would still prefer to be back on his land.
While his family still owns the land, they are no longer allowed to live there, but often visit the place.
They had planned to return this weekend but with Cyclone Vaianu approaching, had decided to wait until next week.
George Tawhai, who spent weeks living in his car after Cyclone Gabrielle destroyed his home in the isolated valley of Aropaoanui, is still rebuilding more than three years on.
That home is now facing the threat of another storm.
He lived in a donated caravan for nearly a year, surviving on canned food with no running water, before moving into temporary accommodation.
That accommodation is now gone, and Tawhai has been living in a shed on his property while working to get his home ready to move into.
“There’s painting to do, and quite a bit to do yet before I can move in,” he said.
Despite the approaching Cyclone Vaianu, Tawhai said he was not overly concerned.
“You just have to wait and see what happens, and how bad it is,” he said. “But I believe it’ll pass through quickly.”