Hawke’s Bay man dug for 6 hours to free partner buried under slip

A Hawke’s Bay man dug for 6 hours in a lionhearted attempt to free his buried partner as wind and rain from Cyclone Gabrielle lashed his home.

Shona Wilson died on Tuesday morning when a slip came down into the Tutira house and smashed through her room, burying the woman under 4 metres of dirt.

“The poor thing was asleep in bed and had no idea what was coming,” Wilson’s partner’s son said.

Wilson, 59, was the first death announced by police in Hawke’s Bay in relation to Cyclone Gabrielle. As of Friday night, the death toll is 9.

READ MORE:
* Cyclone Gabrielle: What we know about the nine people who’ve died
* Cyclone Gabrielle: Efforts to restore essential services underway in Hawke’s Bay where more deaths expected
* Dramatic video of Hawke’s Bay family’s flight from rising floodwaters

Bill Chrystal, 58, was sleeping on the couch and got up at about 4am to get into bed with Wilson when the house was hit by a slip from the hill behind it, his son Kalin Chrystal said.

“Not in a million years we would have thought that [the hill could slip], especially my dad, he feels quite guilty about it,” Chrystal said.

Bill Chrystal managed to flee the house on Matahorua Rd with Wilson’s 18-year-old daughter, before he returned to try and dig his partner of 9 years out.

“I think he dug for 6 hours with a shovel, her room was probably 4 metres under silt,” the local shearer said.

Chrystal said if the slip had hit 5m to the left, it would have hit the main part of the house and could have killed his father and Wilson’s daughter.

Despite his father’s best efforts, there was simply too much dirt for him to be able to save Wilson, Chrystal said.

“He was getting nowhere.

“It’s sad what happened, it’s hard to comprehend,” Chrystal said.

By mid-morning local farmers turned up to help with diggers and tractors, but by that time Chrystal had half dug out Wilson.

“It’s a big hill, but just behind the house, it’s not very big, there’s plenty of trees planted.”

Chrystal said Wilson was like a grandmother to his own children.

“It’s heartbreaking to think about. She was such a gentle soul.”

He said she was a militant vegetarian, had 3 children and ran a mowing business with her 18-year-old daughter.

“She would give the shirt off her back for anyone,” Chrystal said.

Chrystal said his father, a tough man who had been a shearer for 30 years, was feeling devastated and was now struggling to sleep, but he had lots of support from his family.

“I think this is going to take a while to recover from for them.

“Are you ever prepared for something like this?”

Chrystal had managed to helicopter to the property on Thursday morning from Napier and said he saw SH2 largely destroyed with parts of the road completely washed out.

The local shearer believes a completely new road will need to be built.

The family has started a Givealittle to raise money for Wilson’s funeral.