Surviving the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle

Severe Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle devastated the North Island of New Zealand in February 2023. Total damages exceeded $NZ13.5 billion and left 10,000 people displaced. Tragically, 11 people died. In March, SPASA’s New Zealand region manager Michelle Marks travelled to Hawkes Bay on the North Island’s east coast, and found a landscape transformed by the devastating effects of the cyclone.

We all watched and heard the breaking news updates as Cyclone Gabrielle decimated the east coast of the North Island, and closely followed the floods in and around West Auckland.

Everyone’s thoughts were “When will New Zealand catch a break?”

I travel a lot for work, and Hawkes Bay is a place I love to visit and meet with the local SPASA members. However, on my most recent trip, I was not prepared for the dramatic assault on my senses.

I was advised that travel over the Taihape Napier Road was possible if my trip was work-related, so I set off to meet with SPASA member Michael Treadwell, the Hawkes Bay franchisee with Narellan Pools. The plan was to spend a day together, meet clients and look at some pools that had been flood-affected.

I noticed the landscape change as soon as I cleared the crest of the Annies, with slippages visible on nearly every mountain. The drive was slow, but soon I came across the first of many 30kph zones. The signage said there was a road slip ahead, and restricted the road to one lane. The road transport authority has done a great job of sectioning the impacted areas – but seeing the sides of mountains missing and lanes washed away was just the start.

From Fernhill towards Onekawa, ruined orchards and vineyards covered the landscape. There was a great deal of silt and carnage along the side of the roads, and many broken and empty houses.

It was total devastation, the result of nature’s onslaught, and words and pictures cannot possibly describe the smell, the uncertainty and the chaos that had been left behind.

Mike and I set off to look at six pools.

At the first pool, we met the owners onsite and heard the story of how they survived, saw the clearing of the leftover mud and the pile of damaged property contents they had cleared themselves, as there was no-one available to help.

The insurance company could not provide a timeline for who can fix this mess and when it will happen. The family’s accommodation grant had run out, so there was talk of a self-contained unit to be delivered onsite. However, the property was yellow-stickered and no-one was allowed onsite aside for short stints to collect belongings – and with no electricity, the health and safety concerns were real.

This feedback was reinforced by the other clients, they face the unknown of what they can or cannot complete. Some have started removing internal plasterboard that had been affected by the rising water level (up to and over two metres) and they have secured dryers at their own cost to try and dry out the framework.

We then moved to the pools. What were once beautiful oases to retreat to at the end of a day, were now littered with debris and furniture.

The soil residue from nearby pine logging had washed down the mountains and into the pools. The water was green with up to 1.5 metres of silt in the pools, the growing bacteria making the water a health hazard. Some people had cleared the decks and the tiling surrounding the pools, but others hadn’t – their pools were sitting, waiting.

I spoke with Michael Treadwell and Chris Taylor from Taylors Pools & Spa Services, who have collectively more than 70 pools (and growing) waiting to be cleaned. They said the concerns are how to effectively clean the silt out without lowering the water level too much, and so keep the surface and structure warranties intact.

They had gone through every scenario available, and we had researched and spoken to companies in Christchurch (who had to deal with liquefaction after the earthquake) and companies in Australia who were flooded with silt left in pools, and feedback from every NZ pool industry expert we could find.

The response from the insurance companies has been slow, with confirmation to proceed to start the clean-up on the pools only coming through recently, seven or eight weeks after the cyclone. Then there has been a delay in the availability of the sucker trucks – to date they have been prioritised completing other tasks, but a truck should now be available mid-April.

During this state of limbo, with costs in the high thousands, the clients have and will continue to keep cleaning what is in their control.

The state of emergency continues, with thousands displaced, the volunteers are making the difference in supporting businesses to get back to trading and families to remain together, however the clean-up is a slow process.

Hawkes Bay will recover eventually, however the landscape will forever be changed.

See also Tips on Cleaning Pools after Storms and Floods.

There will be more on this story in Edition 147 of SPLASH! magazine.

A note on the images

SPLASH! thanks the homeowners for allowing us to photograph their homes and pools and approving the publication of these images. We appreciate their generosity, which is even more striking considering the extremely difficult situations they are facing. SPLASH! feels it is important to show these images and tell this story to provide visibility of the current conditions in New Zealand, and to improve the awareness of the difficulty many people are still facing.