Cyclone Gabrielle: Inside Wairoa, the most isolated town

Kelly Dennett and visual journalist Ricky Wilson are inside the cut-off town of Wairoa, giving a first look after Cyclone Gabrielle viciously swept through. Here’s what they’ve seen so far.

The streets of the Hawke’s Bay town of Wairoa are caked in mud. Queues for food are out the door at the local welfare centre, and at least 60 people who fled their homes are bedding down in an evacuation shelter.

Many more are staying with friends and whānau. But the message from Wairoa Mayor Craig Little, and incident controller Juanita Savage, to those waiting to hear from cut-off families is: we are caring for your loved ones. Please don’t worry.

Little said the town’s main issues were communication, petrol, food and water supplies. Officials believe there is enough water for a few days, but are asking residents to conserve as much as possible.

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Locals describe mud and water that destoyed belongings as violent and angry.

“I stepped outside and I took a sniff of the air and went, something is off,” said Takitimu Marae member Kiwa Hammond, as he stood in front of the community’s whare amid the cleanup on Thursday.

“I saw the speed of the water that was coming and I saw the river…” he said, retracing his steps back to Monday night when he said the scale of the devastation was yet to be seen.

The community knew a cyclone was coming, but things felt OK, he said.

“I’m going, ‘OK this is rain. But it’s not heavy. There is no wind with it’. Some of us were totally oblivious to what was happening on the other side of the river.

“It happened so fast. I was talking to [a relative] on the other side of the river and within 20 minutes her house was flooded. She got out and raced around and raised the alarm, banging on people’s doors at great risk to herself.”

Leanne and Greg Warner were scraping mud out of their Waihirere Rd property on Thursday afternoon. They leased the property to tenants, who had to escape through a front window when the floods came.

How was she feeling? “Tired. I don’t really know at the moment. When we got here we sort of walked around in a daze for a bit.”

Mud was ankle or even calf deep in some spots and it was spread through the interior of their property.

The community was banding together to help each other get rid of the silt and mud damaged belongings.

“Everyone is quite chatty. I don’t think it’s really hit anyone yet.”

Officials don’t believe anybody is missing or injured, but volunteers and emergency officials are still going door to door. The main concern was for those isolated in more rural areas.

The local New World supermarket has reopened and food parcels are available to residents.

Local businessman John Malis, who owns a cafe, bakery and dairy, said he watched with horror as the Wairoa River grew higher and higher on Tuesday. The river runs along one of the town’s main streets, and his businesses.

“We thought something must be wrong. We were aware there was a cyclone coming. We were anxious, thinking: ‘What’s going on?’.” He and his partner prepared their three children for the possibility they would have to flee.

“I was so scared. I was talking to my kids, saying you have to be ready to leave.”

Local resident Austin King spoke with disbelief about the town’s plight. After a sleepless night during which the wind and rain had lashed his family’s home, on the riverbank, he and a relative woke at 6.30am on Tuesday to assess the damage. People living north of the river had fared the worst, he said.

“We’re really thankful [the water] didn’t come up to our property,” he said. “It was really frightening.”

Wairoa District Council briefing for residents

In a briefing note to residents that Stuff has seen, Wairoa’s council said Cyclone Gabrielle was “the most catastrophic weather event Wairoa has experienced in living memory”. A state of emergency was declared on Tuesday.

Flooding from the Wairoa River had the most significant impact, with hundreds of people evacuated from their homes. Fuel supply in the town was limited and only available to essential services.

The public has been asked to stay off the roads to keep them clear for emergency and civil defence vehicles. “Unnecessary traffic is hindering their current emergency response.”

Water supplies were low and people were asked to use them only for drinking.

SH2 to Napier was closed and bridges along the route had been washed away. The connection to Gisborne and through SH38 was being worked on.

Contractors were focused on connecting up the local roading network. The electricity supply was erratic.

Work was under way to get food, water fuel and generators, which had been identified as priorities for the district. For those who urgently needed them, kai packs would be available to pick up from the Te Whare Maire building at10-11am and 2-3pm daily.