Cyclone Gabrielle: Body seen in floodwaters, fears of more deaths than confirmed four
Wednesday, 15 February 2023
There are four confirmed deaths in Cyclone Gabrielle but two men who have spent hours flying over the devastation in Hawke’s Bay are sure there will be more after one of them saw at least one body in the floodwaters.
Kelvin Taylor and his son Cam have spent hours rescuing people from a chopper from where Cam saw at least one body in floodwaters.
Father Kelvin , who owns Taylor Corp, a major apple grower and exporter, said he feared the death toll would rise.
'One body was seen floating unable to be rescued, and others winched out by chopper have spoken of seeing family members washed away,' said Kelvin.
**READ MORE:
* Cyclone Gabrielle: Child found dead, over 1400 unable to be contacted
* Cyclone Gabrielle: Wairoa 'desperately in need', says mayor
* Cyclone Gabrielle: 'Sting in the tail' as storm moves out to sea
**
The father and son spent 16 hours rescuing more than 120 people from rooftops in the Dartmoor and Waiohiki areas of Hawke's Bay over the past two days.
'We are overwhelmed by the stories emerging from the Esk Valley. Our neighbours found the body of a woman amongst the slash on the beach yesterday,' Kelvin said.
'We want to share these stories to help people understand the extent of the devastation and the need for help and support,' he said.
On one occasion Cam and the pilot saw a white flag poking through a small hole in a roof.
While the chopper hovered above, Cam broke open the roofing tiles to rescue an elderly couple in their 80s who were trapped in the ceiling cavity.
They dropped them to higher ground only to return and repeat over and over again.
'It’s devastating and totally unbelievable. People don’t realise what is out there and can’t even imagine it,' Kelvin said.
'The only comparison that people will understand is thinking of Japan after the tsunami. That's what it looks like here in Hawke's Bay,' he said.
'Central government is going to have to do something about this. It's too big for local government, and there is going to be so much impact on people's mental health when they have lost everything.'
On Wednesday afternoon, the body of a young child in Eskdale, Hawke’s Bay was found, bringing the total confirmed death toll so far to four as Cyclone Gabrielle moved off Aotearoa’s shores.
Two deaths were reported in Hawke’s Bay overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday and a body was also found on Wednesday in the area where volunteer Auckland firefighter Dave van Zwanenberg has been missing since a slip came down on Monday night.
As of 2.30pm on Wednesday, 1442 people had registered people uncontactable via an online form set up on Tuesday, police said.
“There are 111 reports of people now safe,” police said, while some were also duplicate reports of the same person, reported unreachable by different people.
However, police had “grave concerns” for several people they confirmed were missing from the Eastern District – Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti.
A national state of emergency continued to be in place while evacuations in areas affected by Cyclone Gabrielle continued.
At a media conference on Wednesday Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said more than 9000 people were expected to be displaced across the Hawke’s Bay region which remained in an urgent response mode.
All local bridges to Napier and Hastings were out but all those stranded on roofs had been rescued, Hipkins said.
Defence Force personnel involved in the relief effort increased from above 200 to more than 700.
Wairoa remained completely isolated on Wednesday and was desperately in need of assistance after it was hit by the 'most catastrophic weather event' in living memory, Mayor Craig Little said.
The town had enough food, water and fuel for the next few days. However, Little said the situation was unsustainable. 'Locally, people are being asked to conserve and rationalise everything.'
The Defence Force was making sure 'we're getting gear and supplies' to those who need it, Hipkins said.
Two Navy ships were headed towards cut-off communities in Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti with food and water supplies.