Two years on, Cyclone Gabrielle’s fury is just as raw for Bill Chrystal who lost his partner Shona Wilson when a landslide tore through their property where Shona was sleeping.
“I think of it every day,” said Chrystal.
“The pain is very real, I don’t get sleep anymore.”
“If I’m working and I hear a song, and if it’s a sad love a song or something like that, I’ll start crying.”
“I’m lucky to get three hours sleeping on it. It’s just something in me that just wakes me up now constantly.”
Today marked two years since cyclone Gabrielle wreaked widespread destruction along the east coast, cutting off communities and taking 11 lives.
There were multiple commemoration events across Hawke’s Bay as survivors and bereaved families paid respects to those who died.
Now living in a caravan in Napier – the same caravan that was on site when the landslide hit, Chrystal is patching it up and taking the recovery day by day.
Chrystal said gardening has been a therapeutically healing process after saving Shona’s plants.
“I spend a lot of time out here, these are all Shona’s plants.”
“Every time I think about it, it hits me, remembering, digging. You know, trying to dig out the person you love, I lost my best mate that day.”
The coronial inquiry into the deaths caused by Cyclone Gabrielle was set to begin later this year, but multiple other reviews have highlighted failures in the emergency response. Those most affected fear what will happen if there is another cyclone.
“I’d like to think some good might come out of these reviews and moving forward for when the next disaster happens but I’m pretty sure Hawke’s Bay is not ready for another one, if it is tomorrow.
“Whereas, they should be.”
