Source: Radio New Zealand
Locals in Te Araroa, north of Gisborne, fled for their lives as what’s proved to be a deadly storm ripped across the North Island.
The Gisborne District Council said communities around Te Araroa, Onepoto, and Wharekahika have been the worst hit, with the intense deluge that began on Wednesday evening necessitating evacuations.
It said more than 60 people remained in welfare centres and marae on Thursday afternoon, and more than 250 homes were bracing to be without power overnight.
Sections of State Highway 35 have begun to reopen, but coastal communities between Pōtaka near Hick’s Bay and Tikitiki remain cut off where the road has been damaged by widespread flooding and slips.
The closure leaves Tairawhiti with limited options for travelling north, forcing people onto an hours’ long detour on State Highway 2 to the south, after the connection to Whakatane, through Waioeka Gorge, was blocked by landslides last week.
The region remains under a State of Emergency, with Tairawhiti Emergency Management’s Ben Green saying the priority is to restore access to isolated communities.
Family forced onto roof to escape floodwaters
As floodwaters raged around them, Huia Ngatai was convinced that she and her five children, the youngest only three, were about to die.
The family of seven in the small settlement of Punaruku, Te Araroa, were forced to scramble onto their roof in the dead of night, huddling together for warmth, as torrential rain caused unprecedented flooding.
Huia Ngatai’s family taking refuge on the roof of their home during the severe storm. SUPPLIED
When Ngatai’s cousin, Lizzy Ngatai-Hawtin, learned of their plight she immediately video called.
“[They were] still on the roof in the dark, water was still running so violently and rapidly past them. It was so loud.”
She said the water surrounding the family was unbelievably high.
Ngatai-Hawtin said the family had been prepared to evacuate and was monitoring water levels. But after checking on their neighbours in the early hours of Thursday morning, noticed the small creek nearby had become a torrent.
The family made the call to leave, she said, only to watch their escape window rapidly close as their vehicles floated away.
“They tried all the exits possible, and everything was overwhelmed with water.
“Huia said at that point they heard this massive crash and it was very clearly a release and when they looked out, it was as if a tsunami was coming down the hill from behind them.
“She said it was the most horrendous noise and her children were screaming and crying, they were just so terrified.”
Ngatai-Hawtin said her cousin and husband, Bully, managed to get all the kids onto the roof around 2am, but not long after a section of the roof collapsed into the river.
“She was on the phone to people and begging for a chopper,” only to learn a rescue wasn’t possible, Ngatai-Hawtin said.
“She just held her kids and she truly believed that they wouldn’t survive this.”
Tash Wanoa, Te Araroa Community Link for Tairawhiti Civil Defencetold RNZ she and others did their best to comfort and reassure the family over the phone, that help would come as soon as possible.
Ngatai-Hawtin said by daybreak, the rain had eased, the floodwaters had subsided and the family was able to get down.
They’ve since been helicoptered out and are being looked after by whanau.
Ngatai-Hawtin said Huia and Bully’s actions saved their children, but the experience has been traumatising.
“It’s going to be a long road for them, and although it’s been a great outcome in terms of them surviving … they’ve lost absolutely everything.
“All they were able to leave with was the wet clothing that they were wearing.”
Ngatai-Hawtin said following the family’s evacuation a giant slip came down, hitting two homes.
The destruction around Huia Ngatai’s home. SUPPLIED
Gisborne District Council’s Jade Lister-Baty said four homes and the Hicks Motel have been damaged in the storm.
It said formal building assessments were yet to be carried out, but hoped inspectors would be able to fly in on Friday.
Destruction takes locals by surprised
Residents in Te Araroa have described the thunderous sound of the hillside giving way following the intense overnight rain.
Kevin Brooking said he could hear more than a dozen slips coming down just a few hundred metres from his home.
“I just heard them eh, the loudest crash I’ve ever heard in the 30-odd years I’ve been home.”
He said the level of destruction has been shocking, and “20-times” worse than 2023’s Cyclone Gabrielle.
“We never got Gabrielle hard like they did down the way. This is the worst I’ve ever seen and I was born and bred here.
“We’ve had that many warnings and we’ve dodged the bullet so many times.
“We thought, ‘Oh, yeah another one that will skirt around the back of us or skirt around seaward,’ but the one where we didn’t listen – this happened.”
Te Whetu Waitoa said the storm hit way harder than anyone was expecting.
“There’s a few slips around and looks like we’ll be trapped in for a few months.”
He said most of the community lived off the land and he was preparing to wait it out.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
