When Te Karaka volunteer fire chief Jamie Simpson saw water pouring over the top of the bank of Waipōa River in the early hours of February 14, he knew he had to act quickly.
Completely cut off from the rest of the country, Simpson and his colleagues made the decision to evacuate everyone from the rural township about 25km north of Gisborne Tairāwhiti “with little information other than what we could see for ourselves”.
About 600 people fled their homes in the middle of the night at their instruction, gathering at the top of two hills either side of the town.
The last of the evacuees didn’t come down the hill for more than 24 hours.
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Going into Monday night, the town was expecting “an average to medium-sized storm – nothing we hadn’t seen before,” Simpson said.
By 2.30am on Tuesday, it became clear that “this one was going to be different”.
Having received a call from someone trapped by rising floodwater, Simpson tried to radio the Fire and Emergency central communication centre in Wellington to register that his crew would attend, but couldn’t get through.
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Te Karaka fire chief Jamie Simpson worked through the night during Cyclone Gabrielle, evacuating residents onto higher ground.
“We quickly realised all communication had gone down. We were on our own.”
Unable to respond to the call, Simpson stood and watched the river rise.
“It just kept coming up and up, and eventually over the bank.
“We didn’t have any idea of rainfall, but we know the river can hold 10.5m of water, and it was already at that, with no sign the rain was going to stop any time soon.”
Simpson has lived in Te Karaka his whole life, and had never seen the river rise so quickly.
“The way the river behaved that night was different. It flooded areas that it’s never flooded before in my lifetime.
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Te Karaka, 25km north of Gisborne, was hit particularly hard by Cyclone Gabrielle, as the nearby river burst its banks.
“It’s almost like a living thing, and when you suddenly see it acting differently you know something is really wrong.”
Although Simpson initially hoped he could “sneak through until dawn”, he soon realised “dawn wasn’t coming fast enough”.
He made the call to evacuate the town.
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After working through the night, Simpson returned to his home to find “a lake had developed on our lawn”. Water had also gone through the base of his mechanic business.
Using their fire trucks, tankers, vans and utes, the volunteer fire crew and police officers went around the town with their lights and sirens blaring to wake everyone up.
“We just didn’t have the manpower to knock on every door.”
Once everyone was out of their houses, they gathered at the local school where Civil Defence teams were signing everyone in.
RYAN ANDERSON/Stuff
With no communication line to the outside world, Simpson had to take matters into his own hands.
“But then the water started reaching the steps to the school, so we knew we had to move again.
“We know from the past that when the weather hits, we need to find high ground, so we went up the hills.”
Although they are still going through the books to count exactly how many people fled Te Karaka that night, about 450 people sought refuge on one hill and a further 150 on another.
By Tuesday morning, communication had been restored with Gisborne fire station, who had set up a command centre for the region.
It wasn’t until the following week that communication was fully restored to Te Karaka.
“It’s been an exercise of the strength of the human spirit,” Simpson said.
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With babies and children amongst those seeking refuge in the hills, Antony Ruru had to find a way to get food and water to those displaced.
Senior volunteer firefighter in Te Karaka and senior adviser of community readiness and recovery in Gisborne, Antony Ruru’s focus was on liaising with Simpson and the Civil Defence team.
Ruru was one of the last people to leave Te Karaka and was focused on collecting enough food and water for everyone on the hills.
“We didn’t know how long we’d be up the hill, so had to prepare.
Rick Wilson/Stuff
Just a 30-minute drive from Gisborne town, Te Karaka was one of many towns around the motu that were left devastated by Cyclone Gabrielle.
“By that point only four by fours could get through the water, and even then a front-end loader was having to go ahead of us to create a valley in the water that we could follow behind in,” he said.
Tairāwhiti district manager at Fire and Emergency Peter Clark said he cannot speak highly enough about the brigades in the region, the quick actions which saved lives as the cyclone rolled through.
With communications cut off, it was a matter of trusting that they’re using their initiative and helping where they could, he said.
“This won’t be the last event we have of this magnitude.”
