Source: Radio New Zealand
Grace Guo and daughters Kerry and Claire had a sleepless night ahead of being evacuated from their Ashhurst home. RNZ / Robin Martin
About a dozen Ashhurst residents were evacuated in darkness in the early hours of the morning as the Pohangina River threatened to breach its banks.
Severe weather hammering the lower North Island has downed trees, left tens of thousands of households without power, closed roads, and forced flight and ferry cancellations.
Emergency services went door-to-door on Saddle and River roads in Ashhurst, waking locals from their slumber and moving them to the safety of the hall at the Ashhurst Village Centre.
Grace Guo and teenage daughters Kerry and Claire decided to stay in their home when neighbours first warned them they may have to evacuate at about 9pm Sunday.
She said conditions didn’t appear as bad as during ex-Cyclone Gabrielle, but the trio still had an anxious night fearing floodwaters would come through their home as happened in 2023.
“I was just a bit panicked actually. We couldn’t sleep. We were awake the whole night.
“About 3 o’clock or something in the morning we got a call from them again ‘saying hey you guys have to evacuate’, so we came here.”
Guo said unlike ex-Cyclone Gabrielle she was prepared for the evacuation when it came and even the family’s two dogs came with them to the Ashurst Village Centre hall.
She was full of praise for the emergency services.
Wendy and Digger Morley gave breakfast at the Ashhurst Village Centre hall their seal of approval. RNZ / Robin Martin
Wendy Morley, who lives on Saddle Road near the Pohangina River, said they had received warnings during evening of a possible evacuation, and her family received a call at 3am.
“We couldn’t see much in the dark, so had left it at that and next minute – boom.
“We were expecting it, so we had to wake up and get the kids ready and get the cars out and get going.”
Wendy Morley’s son, 10-year-old Digger, was shaken up at first.
“It was scary because I never did this before.”
He hadn’t slept but breakfast got his seal of approval.
“It was good. I had Coco Pops and hot chocolate and lollies.”
Happy with ‘cautious’ approach
Cherie O’Leary and her family had been evacuated from River Road.
“It was just a bit rainy that was it. No flooding. You couldn’t even see the river from our place not like 2023 for Cyclone Gabriel.”
But she was still happy Civil Defence had taken a precautionary approach.
“Yeah, definitely. You’ve got to be cautious and be safe for everyone, so I’m happy with that.”
The O’Learys had spend the night drinking coffee and catching up with neighbours.
“We’ve been having a few laughs and they cooked us a really yummy breakfast, so that was great.
“We had bacon and eggs and cereals, all sorts, fruit. I must say Civil Defence are really cool.”
Cherie’s dad George Pilcher was taking it all in his stride.
“I got up at about 1.30am to see what was happening and it all looked good, so I went back to bed, and then Craig my son-in-law came and tapped on the door and said ‘we’ve got to evacuate, we’ve been told we have to get out’.
“We’ve been sitting here since 3am and we’re ready to go home again by the sound of it.”
He too was happy to be safe rather than sorry.
Emergency Management Officer Zarra Houpapa said with the weather system overnight and the amount of water coming down the river the decision to evacuate had be made.
“The main concern was the raising river levels particularly around Saddle Road, so we’d been monitoring it all yesterday afternoon and last night and in the early hours of this morning the decision was made to evacuate.”
Zarra Houpapa said at the halls the residents were given somewhere they could get some sleep and know that they were safe.
At about 10am Monday they got the news they could go home.
“So, just know we’ve let them go back home because the river levels have fallen to a point where we are comfortable that they will be safe to go home and get some sleep.”
Grace Guo was overjoyed.
“Oh, I’m really pleased. We are really happy, finally we can go home my two dogs as well. They were very unsettled.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
