CHB’s networks recognised
‘Severity, speed and scale’ of Gabrielle were overwhelming
Concerned residents who rang Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management in the days before Cyclone Gabrielle flooded the region were told they were “over-reacting”, or that plans were well in hand.
But an independent review by Mike Bush into the response into the February 14, 2023, disaster that killed eight and left thousands displaced has found the organisation was anything but ready.
In fact, the “severity, speed and scale” of the disaster simply “overwhelmed the officials” tasked with disaster response in the region.
Bush told the Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Joint Committee in Napier on Monday that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit for purpose, and “sets up good people to fail”.
The former police commissioner said the review was not a “blameapportioning exercise” but his 117-page report contains nine tier one recommendations for officials and a further 66 tier two recommendations.
The report said authorities in Hawke’s Bay “felt confident” that they had made appropriate preparations. Public warnings and information about how to prepare had been posted on Facebook.
Emergency management personnel, senior leaders, mayors and partner agencies across the region had met to plan their response.
“The accountable members of the Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence and Emergency Management Group Joint
Committee had asked probing questions and been given assurances of readiness by their emergency management teams,” the report said.
“Orange weather warnings from MetService applied to the region. Hawke’s Bay Regional Council modellers felt that, while the forecast 300-400mm of rain would test flood protection and drainage schemes, river flows were unlikely to rise beyond the one in 50 and one in a hundred-year return periods on which their design had been based.
“Even when the weather warning moved to red on Monday, emergency management staff were reassured that MetService predictions of rainfall quantums remained unchanged.
“And when some members of the public, including mana whenua with deep knowledge of the behaviour of the region’s waterways, phoned emergency management authorities with concerns about observable river levels, forestry slash or river maintenance, they were told they were ‘overreacting’ or that plans were well in hand.
“However, during the late evening of Monday 13th February 2023 and the early hours of Tuesday 14th, rain and winds intensified in the Hawke’s Bay ranges and across the Heretaunga flood plains to unprecedented levels.
“Drainage systems were overtaken, stopbanks were breached or compromised. River flow telemetry failed as electrical substations were damaged, and some rain gauges stopped working for a period while others were subject to such high winds that they underreported rainfall levels.
“The combined effects of silt from landslides, high rainfall and forestry byproducts led to rivers breaching their banks, with silt covering crops and filling homes.
“Critical infrastructure — roads, electricity, fibre, bridges, businesses — was inundated, damaged or destroyed. During this critical period, lives were lost, livelihoods ruined, communities were cut off and thousands of people across the region were traumatised, required rescue and were displaced.”
Bush said communications failures, lack of data and the speed, severity and extent of this event overwhelmed staff in the Group Emergency Co-ordination Centre.
Central Hawke’s Bay Mayor Alex Walker said: “The Mike Bush report clearly articulates the frustration and overwhelm that we felt in the Central Hawke’s Bay community in the early stages of the response to Cyclone Gabrielle.
“For the large part, the emergency management services in Central Hawke’s Bay were left to fend for themselves as the wider regional response was overwhelmed by the impacts of the huge rainfall. As such, our local teams, volunteers and community members were all heroes.
“The report lays out a comprehensive list of actions to overhaul our regional and local systems, as well as strong direction to central government on their role in improvements. The scale of loss, to families, to lives, homes, land and livelihoods, must not be in vain. There are serious and important lessons to learn so that we can all move forward with confidence in how we look after each other in Central Hawke’s Bay, and how the system is ready to support us when we need it in times of crisis.
“Many people across CHB have already been involved in new community hub conversations, resilience plans, and training. Many locations have already got emergency kits, generators and first aid where they didn’t before. We are already on track to be a better system.
“In a report that lays out large challenges for the system, I am proud that our local networks were particularly recognised.”