'I'm not giving up': Brother clings to hope as search continues 10 days after floods

Thursday, 23 February 2023

“He’s a part of me,” Mike Ahuriri says of his brother Joseph Ahuriri, who has been missing since Cyclone Gabrielle hit.

Mike Ahuriri does not believe his brother is dead. Not yet.

“I would know,” he shakes his head as he speaks of Joseph Ahuriri, who has been missing since the cyclone hit the Hawke’s Bay on February 14.

“He has always been a part of me, so I would know if something was wrong… I would feel it.”

Despite not seeing each other since Mike Ahuriri moved from Gisborne to Rangiora in Canterbury six years ago, the brothers' close bond remained tight.

**READ MORE:

Mike Ahuriri’s brother, Joseph Ahuriri, is still missing 10 days after Cyclone Gabrielle.

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* Cyclone Gabrielle: Was the catastrophe at Esk Valley avoidable?

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

Since Joseph went missing, Ahuriri has only been able to support his whānau from afar, but intends to join the search next Monday if Joseph hasn’t been found by those already searching.

“That’s the hardest part for me… I should be up there.”

Damage on the Esk Valley after Cyclone Gabrielle.

The waiting has been hard. He can’t sleep and during the day his phone constantly rings with messages from those out looking for him.

“I can’t get angry… I’m trying to keep a calm head, trying to help mum.”

In optimistic moments, Ahuriri believes Joseph is holed up on someone’s property where Civil Defence and the army are yet to reach.

But he’s equally aware that if Joseph went missing on an inland route to Gisborne, he could be lost in the silt, or “buried somewhere under all the rubbish”.

Ahuriri believes Joseph left Napier in his white Hilux at 4am on February 14th, just hours after a wall of water decimated the Esk Valley.

He thinks the brother he describes as an awesome father, was desperate to get home to see his children, after visiting whānau in Hawkes’ Bay, and believes he took an inland road because the main highway was shut.

However, photos from searchers of the road whānau believe Joseph took, show broken bridges, smashed roads, and a deluge of debris.

And there’s been no sign of his truck, or its number plate.

Regardless, Ahuriri says he and the whānau won’t give up until he is found.

If Ahuriri’s worst fears are realised he wants to ensure they bring his brother’s body home to give his soul “peace”.

“We just need to get him home.”

For partner Clarissa Poi, the heartbreak only gets stronger as the hours and days crawl by.

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

Brothers Mike Ahuriri and Joseph Ahuriri.

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.

“He just can’t disappear like that,” Poi says in a broken voice. “I don’t know what to do.”

Initially Poi 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 Joseph’s route, there’s little more she can do.

The truck Ahuriri was driving when he went missing.

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 she has heard nothing.

All she knows is that Ahuriri checked out of the motel sometime on Tuesday morning. By 6am Napier City and Hastings District were under a state of emergency and main roads were flooded and covered in debris.

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

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.