Cyclone Gabrielle: Public Information

CYCLONE GABRIELLE: PUBLIC INFORMATION

Edward Connolly | Wednesday 8 March 2023

Hato Hone St John will regularly update this web page with information to keep the public safe as well as provide updates on our nationwide response to Cyclone Gabrielle.

Remember:

Call 111 in an emergency and your local health provider if you become unwell.
Look out for your neighbours and check in on them, particularly the elderly or those who live alone.
Follow any updates from the local emergency management organisation.

8 March

Ambulance membership

We have identified some customers in Hawke's Bay who may have been adversely affected by the recent cyclone, which made communication and renewal of their membership difficult. In light of this, we have extended the expiry dates of affected memberships to 31 March 2023. This includes members in Hawke's Bay whose expiry previously fell between 10 February – 30 March. Part charge ambulance fees received during this time for these customers will also be waived.

You can renew your membership online or call us on 0800 ST JOHN (0800 785 646) instead.

1 March

Hato Hone St John is standing down its national major incident response to Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle, along with its local major incident responses in Northland, Auckland, Central West and Central East regions. However, our local major incidents response in the Central South region remains at major incident declaration level one to support the transition to recovery and ensure our emergency ambulance service in Hawke’s Bay is safe and effective.

23 February

Hato Hone St John received fewer 111 calls yesterday (22 February) and the lowest number since Cyclone Gabrielle arrived in New Zealand.

In total, Hato Hone St John received 888 calls compared to 913 calls on 22 February. This included:

89 in Northland
320 in Auckland
139 in Central West
129 in Central East
211 Central South

Medical alarms

Hato Hone St John is aware of medical alarm clients in Gisborne/Tairāwhiti, Wairoa, Hawke’s Bay, Rodney and Northland areas continuing to experience problems with their alarms due to power and cellular connection issues. We are working hard to contact these clients to confirm their alarm is not working and advise them they will need to call 111 should they need emergency assistance.

We are also advising clients from the areas impacted by recent weather events to call us on 0800 50 23 23 if they have any concerns about their medical alarms. If the medical alarm has been damaged in the flooding, we will organise to install replacement equipment, at no cost, where we are able.

Note that medical alarms that have been affected by any power or cellular network outage will come back online as soon as local power, cellular connectivity, and phone line access are restored.

First aid courses

Courses based in the Hawke's Bay area recommence on Thursday 23 February. Courses in the Gisborne area will recommence on Monday 6 March. Outside of these areas, in-person First Aid Training courses have returned to normal operations. Course participants can re-book on another day if they need to cancel due to personal circumstances.

22 February

Since Sunday 12 February, we have received 10,356 calls from the Northland, Auckland, Central West, Central East and Central South regions. We received more daily calls than the 56-day average (939 calls) on six occasions.

On Tuesday 21 February, we received 913 calls:

84 in Northland
348 in Auckland
164 in Central West
128 in Central East
189 in Central South

Communications

In Gisborne, radio and paging are now stable. In the Central South region, we are still experiencing radio communications issues like many others. We are working on restoring and fixing all communications as soon as possible.

21 February

Hato Hone St John remains committed and supportive to helping communities affected by Cyclone Gabrielle.

As communities begin to recover, it's important to remember to stay safe. Flood waters, streams, rivers and harbour waters are often contaminated after heavy rain. Contact with contaminated water can cause people to fall sick with gastroenteritis or tummy bugs that can be severe enough to need medical help.

Do not drink flood water
Avoid contact if at all possible and if in doubt boil all drinking water until you receive instructions from your local council
Wash hands thoroughly with soap and water after coming into contact with flood water, after using the toilet and before preparing food.

If you become unwell, call Healthline on 0800 611 116 or your general practice for non-urgent help or advice.

For emergencies, call 111.

16 February

Hato Hone St John continues to focus response efforts on helping those in the worst affected areas that have been battered by Cyclone Gabrielle.

While the cyclone has created significant ongoing challenges, Hato Hone St John is reassuring communities that the ambulance service is there for them.

Significant resourcing has been deployed to the regions most affected
Some telecommunications are already beginning to be restored to some areas. Where it’s not, we continue to use satellite phones, radio and mobile coverage if available, as well as our people on the ground to ensure vital incident information gets through to our crew
We're proactively working on contacting isolated communities
Over the next few days, Hato Hone St John will be heavily focused on ensuring sufficient resourcing is in place for the weeks ahead.

Regional Situation

Several stations have been damaged in many of the affected areas. Thames ambulance station sustained some flooding damage but continues to be operational.

The Gisborne station remains unusable. We have relocated our Gisborne operations to Fire and Emergency New Zealand’s stations and we are grateful for the support from our emergency service colleagues in the region. We have deployed additional units to the region, including our Major Incident Support Team, a Command Unit, and additional ambulances to help with the response.

The excessive flooding in the Hawke's Bay is significantly challenging our ability to maintain safe emergency ambulance services, due to a combination of workload, roads being washed out, ambulance personnel being personally impacted by flooding. We have supported the Rescue Coordination Centre with the helicopter retrieval of 100 people who were trapped on roofs and on their properties, taking them to a triage centre that has been established at Bridge Pa, approximately 10km inland from Hastings. We have deployed additional units to the region, including our Major Incident Support Team, a Command Unit and additional ambulances. The opening of the road between Hastings and Napier was extremely welcome as it now allows us to transfer patients to hospital safely and effectively.

Public Messaging

People should continue to call 111 in an emergency. Some communities remain isolated. If we are unable to get to people due to the aftermath from the cyclone affecting our response, paramedics in our communications centres will provide clinical advice and support for patients until physical contact can be safely established. 

Overall ambulance workload has been complex, but steady since the beginning of the response. Workload is expected to increase as we move into the recovery phase. To ensure we can respond to urgent calls, we ask that people call Healthline on 0800 611 116 for non-urgent help or advice. 

Medical alarms

We are asking communities and whānau that if they know someone with a medical alarm, to regularly go and check in on them to make sure they’re ok. Even if they don’t have an alarm but are vulnerable or elderly, it’s important we all look out for our whānau, friends and neighbours in this difficult time. Hato Hone St John is aware of about 2100 medical alarm clients in Gisborne/ Tairāwhiti, Wairoa and Hawke's Bay that may be experiencing problems. We are advising clients not to test their alarm or continue to press it as this will cause problems once services are back up and running. In the meantime, if it is an emergency and you are able to, please phone 111. Medical alarms that have been affected will come back on stream as soon as local power, cellular connectivity and phone line access is restored.

15 February

Overnight, Hato Hone St John received 668 calls (111) nationally and responded to 510 incidents. This included:

98 in Northland
328 in Auckland
165 in Central West
110 in Central East (includes Tairāwhiti)
276 in Central South (includes Hawkes Bay).

While incident numbers and ambulance responses are down on previous days, the work is complex and response and transport are taking significantly longer.

The adverse weather is proving most challenging in Hawke’s Bay and East Cape/Tairāwhiti, with power outages, road access difficulties and telecommunications issues our main concern. We are working with our agency partners, and using satellite phones, mobile coverage if available, and people on the ground to ensure vital incident information gets through to our crews.

And like a number of medical alarm providers facing telecommunications challenges in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle, Hato Hone St John is aware of about 1000 medical alarm clients in Gisborne/Tairāwhiti, Wairoa and Hawke's Bay that may be experiencing problems.

Therefore, we are asking communities and whānau that if they know someone with a medical alarm, to regularly go and check in on them to make sure they’re ok. Even if they don’t have an alarm but are vulnerable or elderly, it’s important we all look out for our whānau, friends and neighbours in this difficult time.

We are also advising clients not to test their alarm or continue to press it as this will cause problems once services are back up and running. In the meantime, if it is an emergency and you are able to, please phone 111.

Medical alarms that have been affected will come back on stream as soon as local power, cellular connectivity and phone line access is restored.

14 February

Hato Hone St John responded to 590 calls overnight across Aotearoa.

Cyclone Gabrielle is beginning to impact more parts of the North Islands significantly. Hato Hone St John is continuing to step forward to be there for whānau and our communities.

We are working closely with partner agencies to navigate the challenges we are facing with power outages, road access and telecommunications, particularly in Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti.

We are also working alongside the New Zealand Defence Force, have access to Unimog vehicles to enable us to access patients living in hard-to-reach places, and have supplied clinical personnel to support Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams deployed in affected areas.

If we are unable to get to people due to the adverse weather impacting our response, paramedics in our communications centres will provide clinical advice and support for patients until physical contact can be safely established.

To ensure we can respond to urgent calls, we ask that people call Healthline on 0800 611 116 for non-urgent help or advice.

For further details, read our latest media release about our continued response to Cyclone Gabrielle.

13 February

Across the North Island, we saw an increase in the number of incidents where our assistance was required (902 compared to 815 incidents on Sunday 12 February). This included:

Northland 102 (an increase from 70 (Sunday 12 February))
Auckland 337 (an increase from 288 (Sunday 12 February))
Central West 137 (an increase from 110 (Sunday 12 February))
Central East 144 (an increase from 143 (Sunday 12 February))
Central South 182 (an increase from 191 (Sunday 12 February))

12 February

Hato Hone St John responded and allocated resources to 815 incidents in the Northland, Auckland, Central West, Central East, and Central South regions.

In addition:

We have put additional resources in areas in Northland, the Coromandel and Auckland.
We have mobilised our Major Incident Support Team (MIST) to Kaitaia to support the multi-agency response being coordinated by an Emergency Coordination Centre (ECC)
We have several MIST teams on standby across the North Island and we have liaison officers being established at various ECCs
An extra 4WD Rapid Response Vehicle has been placed in Rodney
We have an additional vehicle is in place in Kerikeri.
We have additional staff on standby, including many of our volunteer teams who have been stood up and are providing cover in their areas
In the Coromandel, we have bolstered staffing numbers and volunteer first response units are ready to support as required. We are working with other allied health providers and identified community-based care options should transporting patients become problematic.
Wellington Free Ambulance has deployed specialist rescue-trained paramedics in 4WD vehicles to Whitianga and Hicks Bay in Northern Tairāwhitito support our teams.
We also have access to New Zealand Defence Force Unimogs
We have rostered additional staff into the Communications Centre’s Clinical Support team who will review incidents and provide telephone support to crews on scene and clinical telephone advice to patients.

The safety of our patients and ambulance crews remains paramount. It is important that we continue to prioritise safety, and do not respond in conditions that may endanger our people or our patients, which means there may be instances when we are simply unable to get to our patients. We will ensure measures are in place to provide support and advice by phone and use telehealth providers as appropriate until access is achieved.

Remember:

Call 111 in an emergency or contact your local health provider if you become unwell
Look out for your neighbours and check in on them, particularly the elderly or those who live alone.
Follow any updates from the local emergency management organisation.

For further information, read our latest media release.