Cyclone Gabrielle: Aerial images from Hawke’s Bay show the destructive power of water

Reporter Michelle Duff and photographer Juan Zarama-Perini have been up with the Urban Search and Rescue team to survey the devastating impact of floodwaters across Hawke’s Bay and up into Wairoa.

More than 120 Urban Search and Rescue (Usar) staff have been joined by 25 from Australia to continue combing the worst-hit areas in Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne Tairāwhiti for survivors, checking individual houses and combing back through 111 calls to target specific areas.

As of Saturday afternoon, there were nine known fatalities, and grave fears were held for 10 of the missing. Nearly 5000 people were “uncontactable”. It was estimated nearly half of those who could not be reached were in the East Cape area.

From the air, the destructive powers of the floodwaters is clear. Entire rural communities are layered in metres of silt and mud, and it’s frightening to see how the floodwaters have ripped apart or flung trees, shipping containers, diggers, bridges and houses across the earth. The waters remain high in many places, but have subsided from the swamped valleys of Tuesday.

READ MORE:
* Cyclone Gabrielle: Was the catastrophe at Esk Valley avoidable?
* Floodwater and debris take out bridges across Hawke’s Bay, Tairāwhiti
* Cyclone Gabrielle: Hawke’s Bay family sheltered in barn eaves for 8 hours after river burst

Surf Lifesaving NZ is assisting the search in inflatable rescue boats (IRBs). Cadaver dogs have been requested from the police.

The hardest-hit areas are around the Esk Valley, Dartmoor, Puketapu, and Pakowhai. But there is also widespread damage in Awatoto, Waiohiki, Omahu, Meeanne, and other pockets all around the Napier and Hastings area into the upper Esk Valley.

The Waiohiki Bridge is among those that have been torn apart like twigs.

In the Esk Valley, a house has been picked up and shifted 100 metres across a paddock. Houses are buried in silt, and only the eaves are visible in some. Smashed trees and cars litter the landscape. The Pan Pacific Timber Mill, a Transpower substation, and multiple orchards and farms are half or fully submerged in foetid mud.

Across Hawke’s Bay, Usar teams had finished checks on 340 houses, with thousands more searched and checked. Some needed to be returned to and double-checked.

The coast up to Wairoa was slick with mud and the beaches are lined with debris. On first arrival in Hawke’s Bay, rescuers could not tell the difference between floodwaters and the sea.

Above Wairoa itself, the damage from floodwater is not as visible. Four Usar staff remain in this area.

Authorities are warning homeowners who return to accessible areas to stay out of flood-damaged homes, as water can be toxic and filled with fertiliser, sewage, and other chemicals. The bacterial risk is high. Electricity should be turned off if it is restored.