Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of one of the worst weather events New Zealand has ever suffered – Cyclone Gabrielle.

On February 14, 2023, a state of national emergency was declared as devastation – particularly in the Hawke’s Bay – became clear after the weather has passed and emergency efforts began to aid the region.

From our own region 51 people from across the Bay of Plenty were deployed to Gisborne and Wairoa Emergency Operation Centres in the following days, to help impacted communities with the aftermath of the cyclone.

Emergency Management Bay of Plenty’s communications lead Lisa Glass was among our many locals helping on the ground.

Lisa and her team drove to Palmerston North, then across to Hastings, before flying into Wairoa, 118km northeast of Napier, and 92km southwest of Gisborne on the northern shore of Hawke’s Bay.

Wairoa from the air. Photo: NZ Defence Force.

‘Badly hit’

Reflecting on the situation one year later, Lisa says she’s never been part of a weather event emergency of Cyclone Gabrielle’s scale.

“It stretched such a big distance because most weather events, if it causes flooding you can really see the area that’s most badly hit,” says Lisa.

“But we had so many areas that were really badly hit.

“It needed quite a lot of cooperation and obviously needed an awful lot of people and resources,” says Lisa.

“When something that big happens you don’t have enough people locally. You just don’t.

“No matter how well trained you are – you need support from the outside.”

Most of the EMBOP team members were away for seven days at a time during emergency efforts, but some put in two-week stints.

“The start of last year was very challenging because we had people working on emergency responses at home, as well as supporting Auckland, Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay – and our team started the year already tired,” says EMBOP director Clinton Naude.

“When we send people to help elsewhere, my challenge is making sure we still have people at home holding down the fort, and that staff don’t come back too worn-out or exhausted.

“The safety of Bay of Plenty communities always has to be front of mind.”

The EMBOP team had to fly by helicopter into Wairoa from Hastings. Photo: supplied.

Trained for disaster

So what does it feel like to be part of a team in one of our country’s biggest emergency responses?

“For those of us who are professional emergency managers, it’s what we do and what we train for,” says Lisa.

“You want to be involved and you want to help.”

Lisa says whatever the emergency is whether it be an earthquake, tsunami or cyclone – the effects are always the same.

“There’s people who need housing, there’s people who need food, or there’s roads damaged.”

“When we have something like that, we’re always like: ‘Okay, what went well? What didn’t go well? If it happened again tomorrow, what will we do differently? What do we need to do to fix the gaps?’”

Clinton adds: “As well as helping those regions, their experiences build our teams’ knowledge and experience, which they bring back to help communities back home.”

“We lost lives in Gabrielle and it was horrible, but potentially we could have lost more in another event,” says Lisa.

“Potentially we could lose more, and that’s always what you’re trying to avoid.”

To mark the one year anniversary the EMBOP team have set up a fitness fundraiser, donating to the Wairoa Flood Mayoral Relief Fund Cyclone Gabrielle.

To support the fundraiser, visit: https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/beyond-the-response-wairoa-fundraiser