‘We want to know our people are safe’: anxious families in hard-hit Wairoa wait for news

• Many New Zealanders simply don’t know about the safety of their loved ones.
• Some 8000 people live in Wairoa. It is essentially entirely cut off.
• Follow Stuff’s live coverage for updates here.

The last Anthony Johansen heard from his mum in was about 10.30pm Monday night – and when he woke on Wednesday morning, it was to heartbreaking images of his hometown ravaged by floodwater.

“She told me the weather was getting a bit rough, and she was going to go and hop in bed,” said Johansen, who lives in Palmerston North.

“That’s the last I’ve heard. She lives alone and so does my grandfather, who is 87. I’m really concerned for him and mum, it’s just terrible, it’s nerve-wracking.” His in-laws were also there.

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Johansen is one of many New Zealanders with family in the North Island town of Wairoa, population 8000, who were left frantically searching images posted by Civil Defence and the New Zealand Defence Force for clues about the safety of their loved ones.

Mayor Craig Little has urgently requested assistance “from all agencies,” saying parts of the district were devastated. “We have received very little help because we are so cut off and everywhere around us is in emergency mode.” There was enough food, water and fuel for a few days, he said.

Hundreds of people were evacuated “in very scary conditions” after the Wairoa River rose rapidly and spilled its banks, he said. All communications are down apart from the Starlink system, a wi-fi connection only accessible to the Emergency Operations Centre.

All roads into Wairoa are closed due to flooding. In nearby Pūtōrino, a woman died after a bank collapsed onto her home.

Cyclone Bola still looms large in the mind of many Wairoa families, who recall the damage that caused when it struck the Hawkes Bay town in 1988. Many are holding on to hope that if their family homes did not flood then, they might have escaped Gabrielle’s path.

The Wairoa River separates the two halves of the rural, low-income town, into North and South Clyde.

It’s a close-knit community but right now, even the infamous Wairoa grapevine can’t penetrate the outside. “It’s a tough pill to swallow, we are not used to this – we’re used to having people at the tips of our fingers,” Johansen said.

In Wellington, Marino Harker-Smith (Ngati Kahungunu ki Wairoa) was worried for her mum, a midwife, and her grandparents, aged in their 80s, who live in Frasertown, a five-minute drive from Wairoa.

“They do live quite close to the river but quite high up the banks, I know it didn’t flood during Cyclone Bola because my aunties were living there, so I am holding on to that.”

Her aunty owned Ponderosa Fish n Chips on Carroll St and Tui Takeaway on River Parade, which both looked destroyed, she said.

She felt better hearing there were no more casualties and that the town now has power. Aside from her family, she’s thinking about the urupa at Pakowhai marae, where her brothers and other ancestors are buried and was in a low-lying area.

In Feilding, Emma Asplin couldn’t concentrate for worrying about her mum, sister and other aunties and uncles. She’d realised they were cut off on Tuesday morning, when she was the only one replying on the family group chat.

“I’ve been zooming in on all the images and trying to figure out what’s happening…there’s lots of concern, especially for the more remote areas because you won’t hear about those people for ages.”

“I think once the communication is relinked it will put a lot of people’s minds at ease, because they’ll know their people are safe. That’s the main thing.”

Emergency Management Minister Keiran McAnulty said there are two Civil Defence hubs at the War Memorial Hall and Presbytarian Hall and were still trying to get appraised of the full situation. In a statement, the Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management group said the Defence Force had been dispatched to bring critical supplies to the district. The Defence Force have been approached for an update.

Police are encouraging families to register loved ones who are uncontactable in hard-hit areas.

Stuff has also set up a live noticeboard to help.

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