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John Cowpland / alphapix
Cleaning up after, Cyclone Gabrielle, Napier, New Zealand.
In just five minutes a daughter, a home and a livelihood were viciously swept away as water ripped apart a Hawke’s Bay family.
As stories of dramatic rescues begin to filter out of the cyclone ravaged region, equally heartbreaking stories of grief are also emerging.
Among them is a young family, who barely escaped drowning after their home, 10 minutes north of Napier, was swamped by a sudden torrent of violent water after Cyclone Gabrielle hit.
In the battle to survive, parents Ella and Jack managed to escape with daughter Imogen as the water rose to 10cm below the ceiling.
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But two-year-old daughter Ivy was swept away. She was found later by Search and Rescue teams.
Friend Hayley McMaster set up a Givealittle page on Thursday night which has already raised over $14,000 to help the grieving family.
“Your love for your kids is next level, even taking them out of daycare to be able to teach and love on them even more,” McMaster says on the page.
“No words can say how saddened we feel about the loss of your beautiful little 2-year-old Ivy, who was ripped apart from your family in the recent cyclone in New Zealand.”
McMaster said Ella was pregnant with her third child, due in August, and said the family would have no income as her husband’s work was now “on hold” indefinitely.
The couple often post publicly on social media about their efforts to grow vegetables and develop their quarter acre section. They describe themselves as “a run-of-the-mill, couple kids, couple dogs”, typical Kiwi family.
A resident who lives not far from the couple said they had heard Ivy had been found not far from her home not long after she was swept away.
They said the tight-knit local community would rally around the family.
Friends have paid tribute to the family on social media. One friend said it “just isn’t fair”.
“Ella, Jack and Imogen have lost absolutely everything.”
Another woman wrote “this is a loving and giving community we live in and Ella and her family are a blessing to know and deserve countless blessings in return. Nothing can prepare for such a tragedy”.
CHRIS SKELTON
Chris Barber hugs his brother Philip after the pair were reunited on the thick silt and mud that destroyed Chris’s home when floodwaters swept through Esk Valley near Napier.
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