'We are forgotten': 100 days and waiting since Cyclone Gabrielle

Wednesday, 24 May 2023

Steve Wheeler had up to 2 metres of silt blanketing his property in Esk Valley. (Video first published on February 27)

It is 100 days since Cyclone Gabrielle swung by – and Steve Wheeler is still living in his Esk Valley caravan feeling forgotten by the world.

'When [people from Napier City] come out, they burst into tears. There's still cars upside-down down the road, we're still watching houses disintegrating in the paddocks,” he said yesterday.

And he said he was still awaiting any contact Toka Tū Āke Earthquake Commission (EQC) via his insurer, AA Insurance. Wheeler’s home was surrounded by about two metres of silt and pine debris after the February cyclone and very soon after he remained in the belief the land would be red-zoned.

Wednesday marks 100 days since the cyclone first arrived late on February 13. While some silt had been cleared, thick layers of it still cover the property.

He moved his surviving possessions to a rented shed nearby and is living in a caravan nearby to protect what he has left. He has spent only one night since the flood with his wife of 37 years.

Steve Wheeler, still in the mud in Hawke’s Bay’s Esk Valley, 100 days after Cyclone Gabrielle.

“All my clothes have been given to me as is most of my food, for which I am incredibly grateful.”

Wheeler said those in Esk Valley and other devastated areas had been “forgotten”.

“When you go into [Napier and Hastings] life is normal, but you come out here, and it is a very, very long way from normal.

“We didn’t get hit, we got smashed.”

Cyclone Gabrielle thundered down the North Island in February, triggering local states of emergency from Northland to Hawke’s Bay and Tararua – then the country’s third-ever national state of emergency.

Steve Wheeler had silt up to two metres deep blanketing his Esk Valley property. He is pictured here in February.

At Glengarry, inland from Esk Valley, 546mm of rain fell including 400mm in 12 hours. Latest Insurance Council figures show around $2.8 billion from more than 100,000 insurance claims came from Gabrielle and the late-January Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods.

Near Wheeler’s caravan is Darryl Mason, who was left with a thick layer of sludge in his Whirinaki home. He had cleared most of the silt from the property and already had grass growing and horses grazing. He was yet to get word if his home was a repair job or a “total loss”.

EQC claims head Bernadette McDougall said it was down to private insurers to manage claims with EQC.

“This model has been set up to make it ‘one-stop shop’ for insurance matters and therefore easier for homeowners.”

AA Insurance operations general manager Simon Hobbs could not talk about specific cases due to privacy reasons but said customers with an EQC claims should liaise via their insurance company.

A statement from the Insurance Council said “things are progressing normally” with EQC.

Cyclone Recovery Minister Grant Robertson earlier in May outlined three categories of affected properties, from “low risk” which meant homes could be rebuilt in the same spot, through to “high risk” meaning the site could not be built on again because to the risk of future flooding.

Assessments of low risk properties should be completed by May 31with assessments of others beginning in early June, he said.

“We know it is stressful for residents waiting to hear about the future of their properties and I want to assure people we are doing all we can to move through this process as quickly and effectively as we can,” Robertson said.