{"id":373735,"date":"2026-04-11T00:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T00:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/373735\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T00:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T00:20:10","slug":"the-first-cyclone-since-gabrielle-nervous-hawkes-bay-residents-brace-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/373735\/","title":{"rendered":"The first cyclone since Gabrielle: Nervous Hawke\u2019s Bay residents brace again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paterson helped start readiness initiative the Rotary First Light Grab Bags project in the aftermath of Gabrielle.<\/p>\n

Quoting from the brochure, she said: \u201cThere were three things we used to believe: it won\u2019t happen to me, if it does happen to me, it won\u2019t be that bad, if it is that bad \u2013 someone will come and rescue me.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat really struck me after Cyclone Gabrielle,\u201d she told Hawke\u2019s Bay Today, \u201cis that there simply aren\u2019t enough emergency services to get to everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd even if there were \u2013 they couldn\u2019t reach people.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Eskdale School, about half of the current roll of about 300 were at the school when Cyclone Gabrielle hit less than a fortnight into a new school year.<\/p>\n

Their upheaval included the school being relocated to sports clubrooms and other facilities at Petane Domain<\/a> for about seven weeks afterwards as staff tried to normalise life again.<\/p>\n

Hawke\u2019s Bay\u2019s oldest primary school, with a 167-year history, Eskdale School was undergoing a substantial rebuild at the time, principal Tristan Cheer saying that until recently there hadn\u2019t been a day without a contractor on-site since 2019.<\/p>\n

He said on Friday he was thankful the current alert wasn\u2019t in school time, with pupils on their two-week break between Terms 1 and 2.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids would certainly be on edge.\u201d<\/p>\n

The school tries to \u201ckeep it calm\u201d by not raising issues of the cyclone or alerts other than by the regular messaging of being prepared.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are far better set up now,\u201d Cheer said.<\/p>\n

That includes the installation of solar-heating panels, along with back-up battery power and water supply, resulting from the lessons of the cyclone and necessary in the school\u2019s community role as an evacuation centre.<\/p>\n

Waikato Gray, who now lives in Napier having spent two years in a caravan on multi-generational land after the devastation of his family Eskdale home, said the approaching cyclone had rekindled concerns.<\/p>\n

Gray said he had basic preparations in place, including candles and alternative cooking options, though he would still prefer to be back on his land.<\/p>\n

\"AllAll so far away: Linda Paterson on the Ahuriri foreshore with Eskdale in the distance across a calm sea, ahead of a possible storm. She’s pictured with her grab bag and the leaflets that advise on helping children prepare for emergencies. Photo \/ Doug Laing<\/p>\n

While his family still owns the land, they are no longer allowed to live there, but often visit the place.<\/p>\n

They had planned to return this weekend but with Cyclone Vaianu approaching, had decided to wait until next week.<\/p>\n

George Tawhai, who spent weeks living in his car after Cyclone Gabrielle destroyed his home in the isolated valley of Aropaoanui, is still rebuilding more than three years on.<\/p>\n

That home is now facing the threat of another storm.<\/p>\n

He lived in a donated caravan for nearly a year, surviving on canned food with no running water, before moving into temporary accommodation.<\/p>\n

\"GeorgeGeorge Tawhai pictured in the isolated valley of Aroapoanui after Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo \/ Rafaella Melo<\/p>\n

That accommodation is now gone, and Tawhai has been living in a shed on his property while working to get his home ready to move into.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s painting to do, and quite a bit to do yet before I can move in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Despite the approaching Cyclone Vaianu, Tawhai said he was not overly concerned.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just have to wait and see what happens, and how bad it is,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I believe it\u2019ll pass through quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paterson helped start readiness initiative the Rotary First Light Grab Bags project in the aftermath of Gabrielle. Quoting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4492,6030,1561,682,12412,1061,33959,15313,1888,33960,1976,4528,33086,111,43,139,69,3766,73807,530,7811,6100,223,2846,1908],"class_list":{"0":"post-373735","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-advised","9":"tag-again","10":"tag-bay","11":"tag-being","12":"tag-brace","13":"tag-children","14":"tag-cyclone","15":"tag-feeling","16":"tag-first","17":"tag-gabrielle","18":"tag-hawkes","19":"tag-involve","20":"tag-nervous","21":"tag-new-zealand","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-newzealand","24":"tag-nz","25":"tag-parents","26":"tag-preparations","27":"tag-residents","28":"tag-since","29":"tag-still","30":"tag-the","31":"tag-them","32":"tag-trauma"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}