Family of much-loved farmer John Coates, who died in Cyclone Gabrielle, thank community

The sons of John Coates, who died at his Whatatutu, Tairāwhiti, home when floodwaters engulfed his property on Tuesday have sent a heartfelt thank you to the community that has supported them even as they cope with damage to their own homes.

Coates, 64, was born and lived his whole life in the Whatatutu/Te Karaka region.

In 1999, he returned to the home he was born in when his father died, on a 120 hectare property on Whatatutu Rd.

There he worked in earthworks in the forestry industry, had summer crops, grazed the land and raised livestock.

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“He enjoyed his life here, he wasn’t leaving,” his son Guy Coates said on Friday afternoon, as council officials yellow-stickered Coates’ home.

Coates, a father of four and a much-loved grandfather, was preparing to evacuate the property on Tuesday morning, when he died.

Guy Coates, who lived next door to his father with his partner and children, said the floodwaters rose incredibly rapidly.

As the water came up Guy moved livestock, then returned home to raise the alarm at his father’s.

At that time the property had been spared from inundation, but the situation quickly changed, he said.

“I came down here to get Johnny up, there was no water here, and then I walked back [to his home] and was getting my stuff out, my kids and my partner. In that time, five minutes or something, the water was coming over my bonnet.

“Dad had hopped in the car to leave, and I said I’d meet him at the front. We got out, he wasn’t up there and so we came back down in the digger, in the daylight hours.”

He discovered his father’s body on the section.

The brothers faced a significant cleanup job – mud and silt around the property was ankle deep, and the homes weren’t habitable.

Their sister, who lived in Australia, was scrambling to come over.

Chris Coates said their family was incredibly thankful to their neighbours and community members, many who they didn’t know, who had come in to help in the days since.

“In the first couple days we had 30 odd people here. We really appreciate the help from the people who came along. People I didn’t even know were turning up with diggers and water blasters and Bob Cats, and that was what we had around us.”

“You see it going down in Te Karaka at the moment, everyone just chipping in. We really appreciate it. The family really appreciates that.”

“It’s changed a very daunting task into a process that’s still quite a process, but it’s taken it from a mountain into a bit of a hill.”

The “toughest thing” had been not having communication.

“But as time goes by we’ll have more answers. Until then, it’s definitely an eye-opener to the potential of what can happen.”

They were shocked at the speed of the flooding, said Chris: “The amount of water that’s entered into this one little pocket in a 30-minute timeframe, you can only class it as a tsunami of water that’s coming through.”

“Everyone talked about Bola in their generation and everyone in this generation will be talking about Gabrielle.”