Lisa and Paul Watson and their children were lucky to escape the flash floodwaters that wrecked their Pakowhai during the deadly cyclone in February last year. The past 12 months have been among their most difficult ever.
The Post senior visual journalist Monique Ford was on the ground in Hawke’s Bay just after the cyclone hit, capturing the destruction which shocked the region. She returned a year later to show how far flood victims have come.
Tutaekuri River bridge then …
Floodwaters smashed debris into the Tutaekuri River Bridge after the Tutaekuri River burst.The Tutaekuri River Bridge one year later.A year ago, the Watson family were sitting on their roof with water lapping at their feet. Paul Watson, his wife Lisa Watson, and kids Lily, Oliver and Joshua made it to the highest point of their house as the torrent swallowed their neighbourhood, including their home of 20 years. The cat had floated away on the chicken coop and 11-year-old Lily Watson was hanging on to the chimney. There was nowhere else to go.The same view from the Watson family home on February 3, 2024.Cyclone Gabrielle dumped forestry slash and other debris on Napier’s foreshore.The same spot, one year on.When an avalanche of silt and slash came down the Esk River and water bubbled up through the floor, Steve Wheeler was left with four angry cats and one quite anxious dog, but the walls of the home he built 31 years earlier did not budge. Cyclone Gabrielle still destroyed his 7 hectare property, which became a maze of trenches dug in silt up to 2 metres deep and pine debris halfway up the lounge windows.Steve Wheeler’s home, one year on.People walk past debris left by Cyclone Gabrielle along Napier’s beachfront in February 2023.The same site, a year on.Destruction on Hodgson Road in Pakowhai, between Napier and Hastings, which was inundated after the Ngaruroro River burst its banks.The same spot, one year on.Damage to a house on Awatoto Road, south of Napier.The same property, one year later.Esk Valley’s Linden Estate vineyard in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle.Linden Estate, one year on.Esk Valley was badly hit, a narrow corridor which compressed the floodwaters and the Esk River became a raging torrent.The same spot, one year on.Damage to an orchard in Pakowhai.The same orchard, one year on.Debris on Napier’s waterfront after Cyclone Gabrielle.The same spot, one year on.By 11pm on February 13, the Esk river had exceeded the one-in-100-year flow rate estimated in a report from 2000. By 3.45am on February 14, when the station at Waipunga Bridge just north of Eskdale stopped reporting data, the flow rate was nearing one-in-200-year flood levels.The same spot, one year on.
