The one-year anniversary of Cyclone Gabrielle is being marked across the country with ceremonies and waiata.
Communities in some of the most hard-hit regions have spent the morning at dawn services, taking a minute to remember the devastation caused by the cyclone – and celebrate how far they’ve come.
At Omāhu Marae, the anniversary was marked with a waiata written by Pereri King, reflecting on the challenges the last year had brought.
Those attending the commemoration were visibly moved as King sang and played the guitar.
“Today and the week leading up to today has been pretty full on because a lot of the whānau from a lot of the marae have been doing these commemorations,” he told 1News.
“We don’t know what to call it because it’s sad, it’s happy, and it’s congratulatory, but it’s also remembering.”
He said it is a “time for reflection”.
King described the cyclone as a “metaphor” for taking something bad and turning it into a good thing. He said it was inspiring to see the community come together in the aftermath of the cyclone.
Omāhu Marae served as community hubs during the cyclone, providing food and shelter for anyone who needed it.
King said: “I think the brilliance of this place here in Omāhu, situated where it is right in the middle of all other marae.
“It helped to heal us, just to clean, picking up all the bones that were scattered from the urupā.
“We felt that we had the community come in from around the place. That fuelled this hapū up to give something.”
“It reminded me of what the old people used to talk about.”
Wairoa still has a ‘mountain ahead of us’
The community walked through the town this morning, which is still devastated from the floods (Source: Breakfast)
Wairoa was hit particularly hard by the cyclone, with homes across Hawke’s Bay town destroyed by flooding.
This morning, the community gathered to remember what happened with a march through the town – which is still ruined from when the Wairoa River breached its banks.
Mayor Craig Little told 1News that more than 110 homes haven’t been returned to since the cyclone.
“Today, we could’ve had a little bit of a celebration, but we can’t celebrate because there are too many people living in poverty.
"We still have people living in a third-world country scenario, and they just can’t get on with their lives.
“They’ve lost everything through no fault of their own, and we’ve just got to get them back into their homes.”
He’s hoping to get around $6 million or $7 million of funding to restore the homes destroyed.
“We’re ready to go. We just need the money to do that,” he said.
“We’ve got a mountain ahead of us”.
Reflecting on the past year, Little said it’s “events like this that make us realise how good we are”.
“Everyone came together, you look after everyone, it’s who we are.”
Community honours man swept away
The Te Karaka community gathered at 5am to remember John Coates, who was swept away in the floods. (Source: Breakfast)
At 5am, Te Karaka held a dawn service, where the community gathered to honour the death of John Coates, who died after being swept away during the floods.
Pimna Wehi of the Te Aitanga A Mahaki Trust told Breakfast it was a “pretty emotional” place to be.
“It was important for us to come together and be together.
His two sons attended the ceremony and planted a tree in his memory.
Wehi said: “It’s been a long year” for the community.
“A lot of work has happened here, and the support we will forever be grateful and thankful for.
“We’ve still got a long way to go, but we’re working through that.”
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