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Marie Greene died in flooding broughu on by Cyclone Gabrielle.
When Rachel Greene last spoke to her mother Marie about 8pm on Monday they talked about Cyclone Gabrielle, which was forecast to bring heavy rain and strong winds to Hawke’s Bay.
The pair agreed she would stay inside her cottage on Dartmoor Rd in Puketapu, west of Napier, unless she was forced out by flooding.
The call ended with Greene, 22, telling her mother that she loved her very much. “I love you too,” was the reply.
Less than 12 hours later, the Tutaekuri River burst its bank and sent a torrent of water towards Puketapu – and Marie Greene’s home.
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For four days her daughter, who was stranded in Wellington, desperately sought news of her mother’s whereabouts.
But the 59-year-old’s cell phone went straight to answerphone. She wasn’t with friends, and her name didn’t appear on any lists of Puketapu residents who had flagged themselves as being safe.
On Friday, Rachel Greene said she received the call she’d been dreading – her mother’s body had been found in the roof cavity of her cottage by her landlord’s son.
Juan Zarama Perini/Stuff
An image of devastated Puketapu.
“I want everyone to know what an amazing person she was and how loved she was,” she said through tears.
Greene said her mother – “a wonderful cook and baker” – worked as a checkout operator at New World Green Meadows in Napier.
She was generous and kind, and would “light up a room”.
“She’s one of the most generous people you’d ever meet. She had the sort of personality that everyone gravitated towards. She was an all-round people person who loved being with her friends and family.”
Puketapu is one of the areas of Hawke’s Bay most severely affected by Cyclone Gabrielle.
Puketapu from the air from the electricians as they flew to Wairoa.
As flood water inundated the rural community on Tuesday, residents were plucked from roofs.
Bridges have been destroyed, homes inundated with mud and silt, and cars and motorhomes strewn across paddocks.
The discovery of Greene’s body brings the death toll from the cyclone to eight, with that number almost certain to rise.
Two firefighters, a toddler, and men and women living on the East Coast are among the dead.
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