By Neil Reid
* The answers grieving families of Cyclone Gabrielle victims want answered.
* Coroner confirms what will be in scope for the inquest into tragedy deaths, and when hearings will be held.
* Energy providers, health bosses, emergency services officials and roading bosses will be asked for answers.
Did a beloved mother and great-grandmother die due to a lack of supplied oxygen following a potential health service communications bungle?
Could a quicker route to the hospital have saved a volunteer firefighter buried under a collapsed house?
And, were emergency services fully prepared to respond to the deadly destruction of Cyclone Gabrielle; which created so much heartache two years ago?
These – and numerous other questions – will be tackled in a coronial inquiry into the 18 deaths “arising out of” February 2023’s Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland Anniversary Flood event several weeks earlier.
Four deaths occurred in the Auckland floods, including 74-year-old David Lennard when his home in Remuera’s Shore Rd was consumed by a landslip.
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A further 14 deaths – the majority in Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti – have been attributed to Cyclone Gabrielle which brought devastation and heartbreak to areas of the North Island between February 12-17.
The death toll included 2-year-old Ivy Collins who was swept away from her family in floodwaters in Esk Valley and 86-year-old Helen Street, who was dependent on supplied oxygen but died in her suburban home in Napier.
The tragedy also claimed the lives of two volunteer firefighters – Craig Stevens and Dave van Zwanberg died from injuries they suffered when a house collapsed on them at Muriwai.
Three of the deaths relating to Cyclone Gabrielle occurred in the months after the cyclone.
Late last year, Woolley held scope hearings in Auckland and Hastings in relation to the deaths and the coronial inquiry process going forward.
That came after a written minute from the coroner last July where she proposed the scope of a joint inquest of the Auckland Anniversary Flood and Cyclone Gabrielle deaths, and the issues she believed should form the scope of the inquiry.
Her minute included inviting submissions from those listed as “interested parties”; a group including a raft of councils, families of the dead, emergency services, energy suppliers, MetService, health providers, and NZTA Waka Kotahi.
In late January, Woolley then released a written ruling on issues that have been deemed in scope for the inquest.
It will feature specific questions around the tragic nature of Street’s death in her home in the Napier suburb of Onekawa, including planning undertaken by Te Whatu Ora Te Matau a Māui Hawke’s Bay and electricity suppliers during and after the cyclone.
The much-loved mum, grandmother and great-grandmother suffered from heart failure and was dependent on an electricity-powered oxygen machine at home and oxygen tanks when out and about.
Her family have previously told the Herald they believe she died after her life-saving oxygen was rationed during the storm.
Daughter Glenys Sandoval says she has seen police correspondence indicating that Street was rationing her tank oxygen – which did not require electricity – in the days leading up to her death.
The family had also been told by a Napier health professional about the creation of a makeshift primary care unit just 3km from Street’s home which cared for numerous elderly patients who needed oxygen “24/7″.
Sandoval was emphatic that her mother had never been told about the initiative, which could have proven a lifesaver.
“How does that happen?” she told the Herald last year. “Whoever was supplying the oxygen, why weren’t they giving that information?”
Te Whatu Ora Te Matau a Māui Hawke’s Bay management had also been emphatic that it “contacted all people who were reliant on oxygen, to ensure they had a suitable supply”.
A raft of questions will be asked in terms of the death of Stevens and van Zwanberg.
Two previous investigations have been carried out into the double tragedy, by WorkSafe and by Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
But Woolley said neither “meaningfully involved” the families of the duo.
Stevens’ family have specifically asked for answers around first his transportation to hospital and then about aspects of his later care in Auckland City and Middlemore hospitals.
That includes, issues around Stevens being taken to hospital via ambulance – and not the Westpac Rescue Helicopter – after he was freed from the collapsed house, and then if a “malfunctioning” MRI machine impacted his care.
“The ambulance journey took longer than a helicopter would have, and potentially delayed treatment of his injuries,” Woolley wrote.
Woolley also noted how Stevens’ family supported an investigation into the risk of landslides in Muriwai.
Coronial questions into what was known about flooding risks in parts of Hawke’s Bay in relevant locations before the cyclone, what flood mitigation risks were in place, and what was known about potential flooding risks when planning decisions were made around suitability for residential development.
Numerous aspects to be probed at the inquest follow questions that families of the dead want answered.
That includes preparedness from the various emergency services that bravely responded to the devastation.
“Several families of the deceased supported the inclusion of this issue by reference to their own experiences with the emergency response,” Woolley wrote.
“That included first-hand communication with some of the deceased before their death(s) who had apparently been told there was no available emergency response; having to undertake their own searches; and interactions with search and rescue efforts that, to the families, at times seemed poorly organised or not sufficiently informed about local conditions; and delay in responses from emergency services.”
Many emergency service workers put their own lives at risk, including in darkness, and in conditions in Esk Valley that survivors previously told the Herald included surging “sea-like” waves through rural residential areas.
Woolley will also investigate issues created by woody debris in flood-ravaged areas on the eastern coastline of the North Island.
She wrote there was “evidence that forestry/woody debris in the flood waters could have [been] a contributing factor” in the death of Susane Caccioppoli in Esk Valley.
That included the debris potentially being responsible for the “collapsing” of the house she was visiting when disaster struck.
The public messaging of councils from regions where fatalities were recorded will be reviewed, as will those issued by NZTA Waka Kotahi around what roads were open and safe to use.
George Luke, 64, was trapped in a vehicle for three days on a section of the Napier-Taihape Rd and later died in hospital.
The deaths of Street, Luke and Stevens specifically will also include an investigation over “survivability issues”. Luke’s family has sought information about photos of him which were apparently taken from a helicopter while he was trapped on Napier-Taihape Rd.
Woolley said further inquiries would be made to “understand whether the photographs exist and the circumstances in which they were taken”.
The pending inquest will also look at what was known about the risk of landslides, or soil instability, on Shore Rd before the Auckland floods. It will also investigate what “any party” could have done to avoid or mitigate those risks.
That included other properties on Shore Rd that “share similar geographic features with Lennard’s property and therefore might be at risk of a similar landslip”.
The Auckland Anniversary Flood claimed the lives of Lennard, Daniel Miller, David Newth and David Young.
Young died in floodwaters near his home in Onewhero, about 20km inside the Waikato region boundary.
Woolley’s ruling revealed “concerns” Young’s family had aired including “the availability of resources for search and rescue efforts and on-the-ground co-ordination of search efforts, including appropriate use of local knowledge”.
The coroner’s office also confirmed dates for hearings into the 18 deaths.
Two blocks have been set down in Auckland; between June 30-July 4 and August 18-August 29.
Hearing dates in Hastings are October 6-October 13, and the week of November 10.
Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 33 years of newsroom experience.
