State Emergency New Zealand - TC Gabrielle

As Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle passed across Norfolk Island, the force of the winds and stormy weather was already impacting Northland in New Zealand and on Monday heavy rain and strong gale force winds tear the landscape apart, twisting powerlines, causing dangerous slips, knocking over trees, and raging rivers breaking bridges and river flood banks.

Now our thoughts and sadness are with our closest neighbour, New Zealand. The massive floods and storm damaged have destroyed homes, businesses, cut off communities and sadly there has been families who have lost loved ones, with deaths standing at 11 and many still missing, yet to be hopefully found or contacted.

The North Island has been devastated by TC Gabrielle. There has been damage from the top of the country and down the country along the east coast and terrible flooding and storm damage in the areas from the East Cape down into Hawkes Bay, which is my home. My family are safe, but my concerns remain as news reports still come in as rescues continue as families are slowly making contact after loss of power and communication. There has been major damage to water supplies, roads, many bridges washed away or broken, along with trainlines washed away. The images remind me of the massive floods in Australia in the past year.

The storm weather warnings were given that this was a massive cyclone storm, and it sure came with a nasty punch and New Zealand was declared as a

National State of Emergency as the storm hit on 13 and 14 February 2023.

During the past week I was relieved when I made contact with family and friends, some had no power for almost a week, no communication with internet out and many are still on strict water restrictions as there is damage to city and town’s water pumps. Our daughter lives in Hawkes Bay, and in her town, they still need to boil their water as storm water issues continue, which means their water is possibly unsafe for drink without boiling.

Our parent’s family home was spared flood damage in Havelock North, but sadly many neighbours were flooded and this week the navy and community have worked together to clean out the mud and empty the properties of the damaged household items. The street does not look recognisable, it just shows the force of the storm’s heavy rain and gale force winds.

I have followed many news reports, of amazing survival and rescues and the sad loss of homes, belongings, cars and so much more. Each story touches us as we know the areas, and I even know a family who escape and clung on to trees and posts for over three hours waiting to be rescued. There are stories of loss

of pets, farm animals, and the occasional good story of horses or pets reunited with their families.

The disaster reminds me of earthquakes, Christchurch massive quakes on the 4 September 2010 and 22 February 2011, followed by another large South Island quake on the 14 November 2016 in Kaikoura, or the historic Napier, Hawkes Bay, Earthquake on the 3 February 1931.

The last massive cyclone to cause major flooding and damage was TC Bola in 1988. Only a few weeks ago another cyclone, TC Hale, hit New Zealand, with terrible flooding in Auckland, and damage across the North Island, including the Coromandel. With so much rainfall already this year, the land was waterlogged, and it was a disaster waiting to happen. Auckland was not spared in TC Gabrielle, there has been areas with power outages, the West Coast settlements are cut off with trees down and landslides and sadly two firemen have lost their lives when assisting during the emergency as a house was crushed in a landslip.

While communities are in a clean up mode and in shock of the scale of the damage and losses, there is also the impact of loss of food and crops, along with the loss of sheep and cattle as flood waters washed them away, leaving mud and silt covering farms. Apples, onions, and so many crops have been photographed washed in the flood waters and along the coast lines. Vineyards are also filled with water and silt, so many farming communities in disbelief of how destructive

TC Gabrielle had been.

The impact on farming, also continues throughout the communities who support the industries. Many crops were due to be harvested and now thousands of workers are impacted from the loss of fruit and other produce, the flow on will be major in the economy of this area based around the horticulture and agriculture industries. Plus, there is now a shortage of produce in New Zealand and exports as Hastings is known as the Fruit Bowl of New Zealand.

Trees have been shown washed up against bridges, scattered near riverbanks and along the beaches. Many are concerned that forestry companies have not tidied up the slash after pine trees are harvested, and this has impacted along rivers damaging many bridges.

Manger roads were closed following the cyclone, even the roadways between Napier and Hastings, but I am pleased when they reported that these roads were reopened, with restrictions on many bridges as they were inspected for storm damage.

The main road between Napier and Wairoa still remains closed, but the Ōpōtiki to Gisborne and Gisborne to Wairoa roads have reopened with roads still under repair and many delays. A shocking closure is SH5, the Napier to Taupo Road, which has utter destruction at the Esk Valley and the Napier end, but video

footage I have seen, shows a unrecognisable main road, they say it will be a long time before SH5 will reopen.

Sadly, there has also been looting and burglaries, with power out in many areas and businesses closed, it is horrible to think criminals have also added stress to the communities already suffering, including rural areas, generators were also stolen.

The sights on the news and social media this week have been shocking, and personal stories from family and friends has made us feel hopeless being away as they live through the nightmare.

It will take time to heal the damage, with the mammoth clean up and recovery. One thing I have noticed this week is the “meaning of community is real” and so many have started helping complete strangers in their time of need.

I send our love and care to all those at home, to everyone across New Zealand and those like myself who live away. TC Gabrielle has impacted on everyone near and far as were all reach out to support and help in whatever way we can.

Social Media and News reports have been filled with many shocking images and videos of the cyclone damage, rescues, and survival. I have shared a few images from Stuff, photography by Corena and RNZ news - Tess Bruton. These images are just a glimpse of the devastation the communities have experienced in Hawkes Bay.

Take care over there in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Betty Matthews

February 2023