Video: Hawke’s Bay Emergency controller explains his South Island tramping trip before Cyclone Gabrielle hit
Hawke’s Bay’s top emergency management controller has explained his decision to go tramping in the South Island before Cyclone Gabrielle, saying he returned to Hawke’s Bay as soon as he could.
The Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Controller Ian Macdonald told Hawke’s Bay App that when he left for his tramping trip on the Thursday before, the forecast “wasn’t that bad”.
“We were going to have some impacts, but it wouldn't have been what we received. For me, on the Tuesday morning when I became aware of that, I was trying to get back to Hawke’s Bay.”
He says he spent time in the National Coordination Centre underneath the Beehive, “basically working as best I could for Hawkes Bay within that construct”.
“And then I managed to catch a flight first thing on the Wednesday morning, and I was in here by about Wednesday lunchtime.”
Asked if him going off on a tramping trip meant the Cyclone was worse than he expected, Macdonald said: “Most definitely”.
“The impacts from that forecast, it wasn't as bad as what we received. I think the regional council's done a bit of work around rainfall totals and such. This was really well beyond what was forecast. We'd prepared for that event. We had prepared for that. We'd put in place the messaging where organisations were standing up. We had people who were stood up over the weekend, working over the weekend, but what we received was far greater than what was forecast.”
Asked if, reflecting back on the Emergency Management Group’s decisions, he thought they had got it right, Macdonald said: “Most of the time, yeah. There will be a review process. “
“The only way that this system can progress and do better is to learn. As part of a learning system, you have to actually acknowledge your mistakes and you have to learn from them and you have to have a culture of actually people putting their hand up.”
“That's the way that we like to operate. And so that's why I'm saying, from my perspective anyway, we want to have a review. It has to be open and transparent. People have to have the ability to have input into it, and we'll learn from any mistakes that were made and make the process better next time.”
Asked if he thought any mistake were made, Macdonald “Oh, undoubtedly, we will find some out, but as I said, we haven't gone through that process yet.”
