Preparing your Evacuation Point. Disaster Recovery and Community Restoration. Ep.16 Precipice Podcast.

In this episode I speak to Michael Ward, known by most as Nate. Nate is married to Kate Ward who I also speak to on the podcast. He was the Chairman of the Surf Club at Muriwai at the time of Cyclone Gabrielle. He is now the Finance Administration Convenor and is still a trustee of the facility that owns and manages the surf club building.

Nate talks about the issues on the night and in the days following at the surf club, which became the evacuation point for the Muriwai community on the night of Cyclone Gabrielle and a pivotal gathering point for the community. He talks about the learnings and actions that have been taken to prepare the facility better for possible weather events including plans for water, infrastructure, systems, resources, funding, power and communication. 

Nate shares advice he has for other communities dealing with a weather event like this and running a community facility that has become an evacuation point as well as an integral part of a community’s response to a disaster and subsequent recovery.

Precipice launched on July 20th 2026. 3 seasons will be released across 4 weeks and then the full series of 26 episodes will be available for you to listen to at your leisure.

Season 1: Cyclone Gabrielle Hits Muriwai 

Season 2: Disaster Recovery and Community Restoration                     

Season 3: Community Initiatives after a Cyclone

Listen on You Tube  https://www.youtube.com/@precipicepodcast

Follow on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/precipicepodcast

Hosted and produced by Mandy Jakich. Commissioned and funded by Muriwai Community Association, supported by the Auckland Council Recovery Office.

Transcript

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Mandy 0:13

In this episode, I speak to Michael Ward, known by most as Nate. Nate is married to Kate Ward, who I also speak to on the podcast, and was the chairman of the Surf Club at Mudouai at the time of Cyclone Gabrielle. He is now the Finance Administration convener and is still a trustee of the facility that owns and manages the Surf Club building.

Nate 1:24

I really felt like we'd failed in the community because you know we had this fantastic facility that in all respects should have been a place where they could go to that feel safe. You'd have in the middle of the night. That should have been sort of showing the beacon of hope, and actually pretty quick with the power went out. There's no backup, no backup comms, no nothing. And it really just sounds like it's a bit of a hellhole.

Mandy 1:46

Nate talks about the issues on the night and in the days following at the Surf Club, which became the evacuation point for Muriwai community on the night of Cyclone Gabrielle and a pivotal gathering point for the community.

Nate 1:59

We weren't funded, aren't funded to be a um we're not funded to be a community center, then a refuge, and when we'd looked into it before, apparently we were too close to sea level to be a civil defence refuge because of tsunami risk, but it went high enough, not sea level. So there was no sort of formal funding.

Mandy 2:17

He talks about the learnings and actions that have been taken to prepare the facility better for possible weather events, including plans for water, infrastructure, systems, resources, funding, power, and communication. Nate shares advice he has for other communities dealing with a weather event like this and running a community facility that has become an evacuation point as well as an integral part of a community's response to a disaster and subsequent recovery.

Nate 2:52

So my name's Michael Ward. I live at Waimauku which is about 15 minutes' drive from Muriwai. Um at the time of Cyclone Gabrielle, I was the chairman of the SurfClub, and uh I now I still have a position at the Surf Club, and now the Finance Administration is doing it. I'm also still then still am a trustee of the facility that owns and manages the um surf club building. Um so uh realised uh on the on the night. I wasn't actually at Rue on the night, but I can kind of remember the night because the phone started ringing at some point. I think I was actually in bed and half asleep, and people are ringing and saying, Oh, it's you know flooding out here, and how do we get through the park gate? And um, you know, where's the key to the seed phone and all this sort of thing? And I'm looking out the veteran window at the trees blowing around a bit, a bit of rain, and thinking, come on, this is you know, it's a little wet, windy night. You can surely you can work this out yourself. Um and I guess sometime soon and night it became apparent what it was might be in a bit more than that. Um next morning we wake up and within an hour or so we had three refugee families in our house, four extra dogs, and another, uh two families with little kids, another woman with a cat, I think, um, who'd all been evacuated from Runaway. And uh by the end, sort of learned that that possibly a couple of firemen were missing and landslides, and it's like, okay, well, this and that the surf club itself flooded. And so that started to dawn on me. Well, this was this was quite serious. Um we had no power at their stage, so we've got a generator by our place to go and made capture 10 and then um Charlie, my son, and myself went out to Muraway and met Louis Navoro and our maintenance electrician and started to walk around the club and it's quite um depressing. You know, uh it was dark, the uh base well certainly parts of the club extended into a mess, you know. And uh kind of practical project manager me kept in and it's like, okay, what do we need? We need um some power, so dispatch loot to go and get the generator, um, which he did. Um Johnny O'Leary, whose uh maintenance plumber showed up and um we went round the 13 toilet to the facility that were all filled to the seat with paper uh because the power had gone off fairly early in the piece and um so there's no power, no water, no wastewater. So we cleared those um pretty quickly, the generator came back, um Lincoln Charlie wired it in, we got the power up, um that fiber. Uh Vodafone wasn't working, but spark was. Um and then I I can't remember exactly how it went, but people kind of started to show up and you know, wet backs, sweeies, brooms, and and we got into it, and by the end of that day we had the place cleaned up. It's probably clean up the meat for years, because everything got a good wash with water and and uh everything was pulled away from the walls and that. So um, you know, overarching memory of that day was how quickly people showed up and we just kept going until quite late in the evening, and and um you know, that was would say good as new, but someone had the foresight to dug all into the water on the concrete kicker so that you know there's no damage to the walls, and that was a concrete floor pretty much throughout. So um that that worked really well.

Mandy 6:34

Had you kind of worked out that the surf club was going to be a place of evacuation?

Nate 6:39

Uh well, kind of yes and no. Um there's no other place. Well, there's fire brigade, you know, fire fire station and golf course, and but kind of yes and no. We we weren't funded, aren't funded to be a um we're not funded to be a community centre, they'd learn a refuge and we'd looked into it before. Apparently, we were too close to sea level to be a civil defence refuge because of tsunami risk. We went went high enough about sea level. So there was no sort of formal funding. I really felt like we'd failed in the community because you know we had this fantastic facility that, in all respects, should have been a place they could go to that feel safe. You know, remember the night, it should have been sort of shown the beacon of hope, and actually pretty quickly the power went up. And there's no backup, no backup comms, no nothing. And it really just sounds sounds like it's a hellhole. And um they had to get everyone out of there. And so I did feel like um we've got to do better than that. And yeah, you know, I I don't recall anyone talking about hey, there's this big weather system coming, and we really need to think about what we're gonna do, how we're gonna organise ourselves. I don't just like record being on anyone's radar, even though we've built weather apps to tell us.

Mandy 7:52

Had the council ever had any conversations with you as an organization of like, okay, if this happens, this is going to be yeah.

Nate 7:59

Not that I know no, I think I think quite a number of years before there'd been an attempt to sort of link up the various um entities like Fire Brigade and Surf Club and others into some sort of a civil defence response. But you know, when when the sun is shining, no one wants, you know, that one just feels a bit like Dad's army and no one wants to sit around and talk about what you know the terrible things that could go wrong. So no, um uh nothing, nothing that I was aware of. Um and you know, okay, personally I felt like gee, you know, you should have done better than this. Um well, we were in an overland flow path, um, which I didn't realise because I'm an engineer. I thought I should have known that that all of that stormwater potentially could come through this club. Um and I sort of commens myself uh the day they were getting up, never again on my watch, is this gonna happen? And then about four days later it happened again.

Mandy 8:52

You've learned so much from that event. What what what things have been put in action to sort of make sure that doesn't happen again?

Nate 8:59

So pretty pretty quickly we got onto infrastructure. Um, and so we we got a grant from MPI for the generator. Um we upgraded the water treatment system so that in the event that we were we had to stand alive, we had really rock solid um treatment of our water so we could ensure we'd get water. We got um Starlink installed so that if we didn't use for fiber coils, we'd maybe cut out the star link. We got a bunch of stuff that was ice water and um generated from power banks and cots and blankets and stuff that would mean that they could respond a bit better to things that might happen in the immediate area. Um we uh the council addressed that whole overland flow path thing to formalize the limited version so the border couldn't come into the club. And uh sort of while we had some money on the um comms system inside the club so that it was full of people who could actually talk to everyone in the club at once rather than to come downstairs or come over the eye hole. So so we did that stuff. Um and then what's been happening since then, which I wasn't 100% aware of, but um uh through the ummunity association on two other line groups, a bit of a plan was put together to communicate with the community, make sure everyone knew the neighbours and uh we came up with a way to efficiently communicate with people at some of that this happened again, and that really hit its straps. I think it was last weekend when we had Sarkone Vianu bearing down on us, and this time everyone took notice and realised this could be serious, and um we did some proper planning and got the various groups together um and Saturday and swift up and said, Okay, you know, what are we gonna do this weekend? We did tons of stuff before that, but you know, we we'd be sort of ready for it this time. Comms got pushed out to begin and he said no, we're open for business, the lights would be on, feel unsafe come now. Um otherwise, if you're if you have to say when it comes in the middle of the night, USD, all that sort of stuff, stuff far better prepared. Um, and also there was stuff coming down the pipe from from all conditions where they were making contact, you know, just assessing the meeting that sort of thing.

Mandy 11:23

So not you know, a lot better, and as as it turned out, we didn't need it, so it was uh the Avon took resentments seriously, but uh yeah, it's great that that that sort of all of that has been actioned, you know, as really as a result of of the experience of uh Cyclone Gabrielle.

Nate 11:41

We were there very much, it was like we're here, we're ready to help, we've got the infrastructure, um lifeguards have stood down for all lifeguarding activities, but they're available if we need it. SAR Squad had told the Northern region we're not going out of the area, we're gonna stay here, um, look after the immediate community, and I've got wide available Q mule places like that. Anyway, but they you know they already made that call and um surf life so that New Zealand had sent some star resource from South Ireland up to Northland um just in case rather than trying to call on squads out of the Auckland area. So all that worked quite well, it seems. Yeah, it was uh much slicker response. What I what I did learn from the from Gabriel was that there is no kind of Auckland emergency management team of any scale who's able to address everything that's gone wrong in Auckland if it comes through, but you have to be uh you have to organise yourself in local communities to uh look after yourself. I I've sort of got at least for at least 72 hours how do you get to keep the lights on, comes going. And um we've got a lot of resource right in the community, and people with diggers and people with um arborists and electricians and people from the film industry that generators that we've got a lot of resource to look after ourselves, um, and you have to sort of know what all that stuff is with and have a way to tap into it. Um but but safely, you know, like you can't go on to London and get crazy things in the middle of the night. Um but in that uh in the aftermath, uh software is pretty quickly.

Mandy 13:18

Yeah, and having a plan. Is there anything else that you could sort of recommend from your experience to other communities, other things that they could get kind of set up? I mean, I guess not every community has an identified evacuation building.

Nate 13:33

No, no, no, and um and we we we kind of do now, but we're still you know I I hate harp on the funding piece, but we're still not kind of recognized um you know um financially for um so you know Swift Club and uh trust back up that uh particular bottom of the tab, but it'd be great if you know certain offense or Auckland Council or someone who was just a little bit of sort of help in that regard to keep top condition because you know you've got a generator uh you want it spread, your generator ten years old, who's been maintaining it so that it still you know kicks into life when it gets a little.

Mandy 14:15

Have you got any um any tips for communities as a financial person for um you know obtaining grants and from from you know further afield?

Nate 14:26

Only only in that I mean we we as the you know as the surf club, we had two registered charities and had quite a good vehicle to go after grants, so it would exist with you know all that all that infrastructure and governance was there. So there is money out there as long as you've got a good vehicle to go after it, they want to see that you've got some governance and uh accounts and all that sort of that border plate stuff you need to apply. If you've got that, then you know people would have thought MPI would buy us a generator was somehow tagged onto uh a kind of a rural resilience fund or something like that, but very generate from to the uh yeah. You might not have an identified facility, but you may have uh uh some sort of entity within the community that you can lose as that people.

Mandy 15:13

And uh as far as council goes, Auckland council, did you feel supported and you know were there any issues there that you'd like to share?

Nate 15:23

Um I feel like me you know and my role as you know looking after the surf club, which was kind of the center, you know, what I was looking after, we didn't need a lot from them. Um, but I know that you know the members of the community who got stickered and um you know had all that uncertainty around their um you know the status, I don't I don't think they enjoyed the right iPhone. Um so um you know we sort of cleaned it up pretty quickly and then we were able to offer it as a as a not not just as a refuge but a place we had all those facilities like a walk in the chiller and fridges and lock-up storage and all that stuff, which meant that that there's people that from outside the air stone to offer us all sorts of things. We have got 50 litres of ice cream, but you like it all so yes, and we've got a place to keep it cool, you know. So uh uh there's that there's that piece that we need absolutely that that it happens, you deal with emergency stuff on a day, and after a couple of days, you've sort of got yourself straight, and then obviously you come to that next phase to which it's starting to support um using the facilities you've got to start supporting the people who have really been hard at um and that I can't believe exactly how long, but that can go on for months. Um people are going to be feeling uncertainty and uh you know probably quite traumatized and let somebody go and talk to other people who are traumatized, maybe a few people who aren't traumatized to cheer them up.

Mandy 17:03

You wonder if if if communities, you know, who haven't actually been affected by an event like we were, if they are kind of coming together and and making plans. Do you have any recommendations? Anything else that you can add?

Nate 17:16

Well, just look around, you know, look around at the environment here. And I guess we all we didn't we didn't used to refer to those hills behind us as cliffs. But when you look at them, they are you know they are. And and when you look at the aerial photos, you can see well they you know they've got the shape of things that have been formed by by SWIPS. And uh, that just paints a more life, everyone uh rights to make sure the children live. And yeah, some really simple stuff like um you know, keeping an eye on the drains and not always expecting that cows are going to show up and clean out those drains, and it can just be you know a few leaves in the wrong drain with a bit of water, and all of a sudden we had that slip on of total than that was last year. That was you know, that was easily avoided. Um it was just a little bit of water going in the wrong direction, and all of a sudden a few people backdoors. So yeah, so it's really um I guess it's just in the uh environmental risks that you face where you know if the water pulls out of the sky in large quantities, where does it go? And what happens if you know where it goes at the moment is you know at the top would be going to me. Um and also what you know, what else could happen. I mean I think one of the things we were always worried about was a forest fire can and um forest with a strong noise to blowing it down on us and you know maybe setting fire to those trees behind the surf club and burning the whole place down. So that hasn't happened yet, but uh the next thing might not be ordinary.

Mandy 18:57

Yeah, I guess it would be actually good to speak about the fire thing and that you know what other place could be used as an evacuation resource. What do you think Murawai did really well?

Nate 19:09

I was really impressed with the way that the various groups sprug up after that. Um, you know, the the people that stepped up into leadership roles and just stuck at it for months and months. I mean I was on um some of those chat groups, not as a participant, but I was sort of there at the start and never left and sort of saw how long that took for them and how much work it people did to to um try and get recruits from council. I suppose the other thing, the only other uh observation is it's there is a point at which it needs to come to an end. You need to be able to draw a line under it and move on. It did get to a point where we we had to say, okay, we uh we need to go back to being uh surf club um doing our day job, we can't continue.

Mandy 19:57

And how do you know when the time is right for that?

Nate 20:01

There's a point at which um people sort of run out of run out of gas and and really need to move on, and that's that's easily said when you're not one of the people who's lost your home. Um but yeah, you need to try and get back to normality as place as you can.

Mandy 20:18

Is there something hopeful or meaningful you'd like to leave us with?

Nate 20:24

Um well, I think despite the fact that we weren't that prepared, I think um it sprang into life that's community pretty quickly. I think we've got a lot of a lot of things right and uh support.

Mandy 20:39

We learned a lot of tests was commissioned and funded by Middlewide Community Association, supported by the Orton Council Recovery Office, at work by Tyler Williams, stand by local middleware and ten people written in response to sight and give a yellow. Now Mikey, thank you to the Middle Eye Community for the input and primary and put you in the middle.