Cyclone Gabrielle, Coromandel cut off: the big stories of February 2023

As the year draws to a close, Waikato Herald is taking stock of 2023. What moved readers most? As part of a 12-day series, Waikato Herald reporter Danielle Zollickhofer looks at the top stories each month. Welcome to day two: February.

Nationally, February 2023 was dominated by the continuing Auckland Floods and Cyclone Gabrielle. With the Coromandel being one of the main three regions severely impacted, the weather was also on top of people’s minds in the Waikato.

Due to the heavy rain at the end of January, the State Highway 23 divvy between Raglan and Whatawhata closed for nearly a month, meaning road users were detoured via Ngāruawāhia.

The rain caused havoc in Matamata-Piako and Waitomo where both local councils reported damage to walkways and roads.

Hamilton was the least impacted by the weather. The council dealt with fallen trees and blocked drains and had to temporarily close low-lying river paths due to surface flooding.

Given the national significance of the weather, it was no surprise that the big stories in the region were:

Gabrielle’s gift to Coromandel – Isolation

Thames-Coromandel mayor Len Salt declared a state of emergency just before Waitangi weekend as conditions in the region were expected to deteriorate.

Much like the Gisborne District, the Coromandel was temporarily cut off from the rest of the country.

Roads in the district were left flooded by metres of water, described by Civil Defence as “absolutely impassable”, while a third of the district was without power.

Gale-force winds and heavy rainfall had caused major slips and extremely hazardous driving conditions around the East Waikato region.

There were cars abandoned on the roads and water could be seen lapping at doorsteps.

Bayfair on the Beach motel began to get flooded as seawater flowed over the road after Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Mike Scott

Cathedral Cove closes due to ongoing landslip

The popular Cathedral Cove, as well as several other walkways and DoC camping sites closed at the beginning of February.

The affected areas included the Whitianga Rock Walk and Opera Point Walk, as well as campsites at Port Jackson, Fletcher Bay and Waikawau Bay.

Cathedral Cove, which receives around 200,000 visitors a year, was temporarily closed due to an ongoing landslip and rockfall risk.

A landslide came crashing down on popular Coromandel beach Cathedral Cove after Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / DoC Whitianga

Hamilton house for sale with special ‘cattels’

With the distressing weather events dominating the news in February, Waikato readers were amused by an intriguing house auction.

A Hamilton home had gone under the hammer as a special two-for-one deal: Buy a house get a free cat.

The Beerescourt property features four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a spa and Mark the half-tail cat who decided to move into the place one day and never left.

The property vendors were moving to a new development where cats are not allowed (in the interests of protecting native wildlife), so Mark was going up for auction alongside the home.

Mark the half-tail cat was a special 'cattel' of a Hamilton property.

Danielle Zollickhofer is a multimedia journalist based in Hamilton. She joined NZME in 2021 and is writing for the Waikato Herald.

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