{"id":63130,"date":"2025-10-07T05:31:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T05:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/63130\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T05:31:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T05:31:07","slug":"cyclone-gabrielle-inquest-111-callers-told-to-hold-on-with-no-timeline-on-help-arriving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/63130\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyclone Gabrielle inquest: 111 callers told to hold on, with no timeline on help arriving"},"content":{"rendered":"

That was because emergency responders were unable to get to people as areas became cut off by floodwaters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn these extreme circumstances, we were not able to give the clear comfort message that we would be with them soon,\u201d Travers said.<\/p>\n

He was speaking to a hearing before Coroner Erin Woolley, who is conducting an inquest <\/a>into the deaths of 19 people associated with the extreme weather events of January and February 2023.<\/p>\n

The coroner has already heard evidence related to deaths in the Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods<\/a> in January that year.<\/p>\n

\"CoronerCoroner Erin Woolley is conducting an inquest into deaths associated with the extreme weather events of January and February 2023. Photo \/ Jason Dorday\"TheThe damage to homes, cars, farmland and roads in the Dartmoor Rd area was substantial after Hawke’s Bay was hit by Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo \/ Mike Scott<\/p>\n

Evidence concerning people who died during or after Cyclone Gabrielle<\/a> in February is being heard in Hastings over the next two weeks. <\/p>\n

Travers told the hearing he had reviewed the 111 calls of the fatal night, during which people were trapped in cars, stuck on their roofs and swept away by floodwaters.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the calls, even now with the passage of time and away from the turmoil of the night, are distressing to hear,\u201d Travers said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried to get appliances out to help but they could not access some areas.\u201d <\/p>\n

The 111 call-takers tried to do their best in a challenging situation, which left them at times \u201coverwhelmed\u201d as the volume of calls increased.<\/p>\n

A lawyer appearing on behalf of the bereaved families, Jane Glover, asked Travers about the case of the Collins family of Esk Valley<\/a>, who lost their infant daughter when she was swept away in the storm.<\/p>\n

\"Imogen,Imogen, Jack, Ella and Ivy Collins. Ivy was swept away in rising waters during Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Glover said the family made multiple 111 calls and had five answered between 5.30am and 8.30am on February 14, as the surviving members of the family and their neighbours huddled in a roof space.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were advised that no one was able to come and help them,\u201d Glover said.<\/p>\n

The group were eventually rescued by helicopter several hours later. <\/p>\n

Glover asked Travers if the advice that no help was coming would be given to the Collins family now. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important that we are honest with callers, so yes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere would be no other advice other than huddling together to keep warm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Travers\u2019 voice broke occasionally as he related the events of the night and acknowledged the \u201cdesperate situation\u201d some of the callers were in. <\/p>\n

He said that at the time of the cyclone, not being able to get responders out to someone trapped or in life-threatening situations was not something rescuers had ever been able to contemplate. <\/p>\n

Call-takers were reduced to using their \u201cbest endeavours and good faith\u201d to advise callers based on common sense. <\/p>\n

Travers said one staff member with 35 years of experience said it was the first time in their career they had felt \u201cinadequate and unable to help\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"EmergencyEmergency services and helpers rescue people caught up in Cyclone Gabrielle along Links Rd, near Taradale, during the cyclone. Photo \/ NZME\"WairoaWairoa was inundated with floodwater during the cyclone.<\/p>\n

Emergency escalated as night went on<\/p>\n

Evidence given to the inquest showed how the emergency in Hawke\u2019s Bay and the Tair\u0101whiti Gisborne<\/a> region escalated as the night went on.<\/p>\n

At 9.30pm on February 13, reports were coming in of people being stuck in their cars on roads between slips.<\/p>\n

By 11pm, rivers were bursting their banks. Emergency calls began to back up as the situation became increasingly difficult after midnight.<\/p>\n

By 1.30am, a high number of calls were coming from the Esk Valley area, indicating a potential risk to life.<\/p>\n

Travers agreed that at that time the situation was \u201cbeginning to spiral\u201d, with areas being cut off from rescue attempts.<\/p>\n

By 2.15am, people were \u201csmashing ceilings\u201d in an attempt to get above the flood waters. <\/p>\n

At 2.45am, callers were \u201cgetting frantic\u201d as they were stuck on roofs or stranded in cars.<\/p>\n

Local army reservists were called out to help with their high-wheelbase Unimog vehicle.<\/p>\n

At 3.05am, authorities realised most 111 calls were no longer coming in from the northern part of Hawke\u2019s Bay or from Tair\u0101whiti as communications went down.<\/p>\n

By 3.30am, the water was so high that rescuers were running out of options. The police wanted helicopters brought in but they couldn\u2019t find anyone who was able to fly in the conditions. <\/p>\n

At 4.45am, Hastings firefighters were unable to get through to the Waiohiki and Pakowhai area, which had been inundated.<\/p>\n

Widespread flooding and slips were reported from 5am.<\/p>\n

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME\u2019s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke\u2019s Bay. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"That was because emergency responders were unable to get to people as areas became cut off by floodwaters.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51464,41571,1558,51465,12413,124,51467,33959,6659,33960,19724,5194,5838,28162,17511,13999,111,43,139,7805,69,90,51468,51466,544,2846,210,38707,61,6859,9840,3608,5977,102],"class_list":["post-63130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-51464","tag-arriving","tag-been","tag-callers","tag-chaos","tag-could","tag-courtroom","tag-cyclone","tag-deadly","tag-gabrielle","tag-given","tag-hastings","tag-help","tag-hold","tag-honest","tag-inquest","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-no","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-rescuers","tag-revisited","tag-some","tag-them","tag-through","tag-timeline","tag-to","tag-told","tag-truth","tag-were","tag-which","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63130","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=63130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}