Cyclone Gabrielle anniversary: Wairoa Federated Farmers chair recalls cyclone’s chaos

By Ryan O’Sullivan of the Wairoa Star

In the quiet expanse of Waiatai Valley Road, maize farmer Allan Newton found himself at the centre of an unexpected drama when Cyclone Gabrielle loomed on the horizon last year.

The initial warnings trickled in through emails from Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, urging preparedness.

As the gravity of the situation became clearer, Civil Defence delivered a sobering message - this was going to be a significant hit.

Newton, the branch chair of Federated Farmers Wairoa, said he did his best to prepare other farmers and himself.

“I tried to get a message out to farmers through the channels that Federated Farmers has available,” he said.

There was every intention of being ready for the storm.

“I wanted to fill my tanks up with diesel,” Newton said.

With a chuckle, he said: “I did not think it was possible that the diesel tanks in North Clyde would ever flood out. I just could not imagine it.

Cyclone Gabrielle left an indelible mark on the Wairoa District.

“The truck stop going underwater, who would have seen that coming?”

Even with the prior warnings, Newton did not think the storm would hit the town to the extent that it did.

“If I told you two days before that there would be water two feet deep in the town, you would think I was an idiot to suggest that would happen.”

He figured that the rain event would be of some concern when he noticed Civil Defence trucks going to Gisborne the day before Gabrielle struck.

“It was on Monday morning, there were seven of them one after another in a convoy, I had never seen anything like it before.”

On Tuesday morning, Newton was in the Wairoa township.

He noticed a fire truck going to the North Clyde area about 8am.

“I had gone home and by 9am my two sons were on the phone to each other. One of my sons told me to get into town because it was beginning to flood.

“He said that people may need help and that they could drown.”

He climbed into his tractor and trailer.

“Getting down the bottom of Te Uhi Hill, I could see a lot of people lined up from the marae heading into the township.”

Confusion was on the face of the farmer, chugging along Mahia Avenue near the 50km/h signs.

“People were cheering me on, wahooing, waving, I was wondering what the hell was going on. As I got to the 50km/h signs, I could see police and firefighters standing by the dairy with water up to their knees and I was thinking what the sh*t will I do?”

Told to go to Civil Defence, Newton learnt some members were going down Waiherere Road to help people.

“We went there and were rescuing people, picking up people and putting them in the trailer. There were probably 20 people in the trailer at one time.”

He and other drivers had to be careful not to tip into the drains.

“You could not see where the road was.”

Newton recalled rescuing people from a rooftop.

“One of the Civil Defence members asked if they had a ladder and the guy on the roof said it was by his apple tree.

“So [it was] underwater, this Civil Defence member was trying his best to find this ladder, which he did, and we got the couple onto the trailer.”

By midday, the water was beginning to go down so he spent the following days helping people get mud out of their homes.

“I went to help one elderly lady and there was up to 250mm of mud that went through her home.

“My Red Bands were not enough to walk around in, it was a struggle.

“The lady’s name was Gabrielle, she was devastated and unsure on what to do.”

One year on, Newton’s biggest concern is the condition of State Highway 2 between Wairoa and Napier.

“It is costing the farmers so much money because of the extra time it takes to get between the two locations. To pay for a truck on the road is about $300 per hour and that road is taking an extra hour to drive on because of the state it is in, so that all adds up.

“I believe that the best thing to do is build a completely new alternative, it is only 59 kilometres to Tāngoio, build one straight road. Plenty of people use that road, the Government could put more of their road tax money towards building a better road on the East Coast.”

- Wairoa Star