'He can't just disappear': Heartbreaking wait continues for man missing after Cyclone Gabrielle hit

Thursday, 23 February 2023

His family believe Joseph Ahuriri was trying to get home to his children, but took a road which sustained heavy damage in the cyclone.

As the wait for news goes on, a partner’s heartbreak grows.

“I don’t know what to do,” Clarissa Poi sobs.

Waking up on Thursday morning, she did what she’s done every morning since her partner Joseph Ahuriri disappeared - she reached for her phone, and prayed there would be a text from police saying he’s been found.

But again, there was nothing, leaving Poi in an anguished limbo. She is losing hope as time goes on, but she can’t grieve because there is no evidence, no information as to what happened to the father of nine kids.

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“He just can’t disappear like that,” Poi says in a broken voice.

Now she doesn’t know what to do next. She’s searched extensively, visiting welfare centres in Napier and scanning roads for his white Toyota Hilux but with no sightings and only a vague idea of Ahuriri’s route, there’s little more she can do.

Searching for a loved one missing after Cyclone Gabrielle? Email Stuff at newstips@stuff.co.nz

Poi last heard from her partner over 10 days ago on the Monday night that Cyclone Gabrielle hit. He had been visiting whānau in Hawke’s Bay and was planning to head back to Poi in Gisborne but as conditions deteriorated causing roads to close, the couple decided he should stay in a motel in Napier.

His last text at 1am on Tuesday morning was to ask Poi if she was okay.

Since then Poi has heard nothing.

All she knows is that Ahuriri checked out of the motel at 11.30am on Tuesday morning. By then Napier City and Hastings District were under a state of emergency and main roads were flooded and covered in debris.

The truck Ahuriri was driving when he went missing.

“It’s so hard,” Poi told Stuff as she waits by her phone.

Brother Mike Ahuriri says waiting for news is proving really difficult. He’s continuing to work in Christchurch, but his heart is with the ongoing search for his youngest brother up north.

Hawke’s Bay USAR team leader Ken Cooper says the searching conditions are “arduous”.

“He’s a part of me,” Ahuriri says of their relationship, as the two youngest siblings in their family.

He believes his brother may have taken a back road inland from Napier to Gisborne due to road closures. “He would have been trying to get back to his children.”

Despite the ongoing search for Ahuriri, the overall number of people missing has dramatically reduced in the past two days as communication is gradually restored.

On Thursday morning Hawke’s Bay USAR team leader Ken Cooper told TVNZ the number of people unaccounted for was in single figures. Police said 152 people were unaccounted for as at 9am Thursday.

Cooper described search conditions as “arduous” and said it was something that he had never seen before.

Thousands of friends and whānau have reached out to a Hawke’s Bay missing person Facebook page since the cyclone to find loved ones after communication was cut off.

And while most have been able to confirm the safety of those that were initially uncontactable, others have been left waiting for news.

Among those proving particularly difficult to trace, are people with a transient lifestyle, particularly those that live in mobile homes or buses.

However, other factors have made some people difficult to trace including one Napier man who hadn’t contacted his mother or ex partner due to him being in prison - unbeknownst to family.