‘My overwhelming feelings at the time were partly fear and panic, but mainly helplessness and powerlessness. For a time there was nowhere to hide from the forces of nature …’ Brian Hollis remembers the Wahine storm of 1968.
When we asked people in the community to send us in their personal stories of surviving a natural disaster, we expected the accounts of earthquakes and floods. We were surprised at the number who told of battling wind and rain. Here are five of the stories.
What's your story?
Homeless
This was John Laker’s home in Kingston, Wellington on 11 April 1968, the day after the Wahine sank.
Last car through
An upturned lifeboat from the Wahine lies on the Eastbourne coast in April 1968. Bob Maysmor spent the afternoon of the disaster searching the coast for survivors, but his story begins the night before.
Nowhere to hide
Brian Hollis is all dressed up for the Shell Ball in June 1967 – his first date with his future wife, Jocelyn. It holds happier memories than the morning 10 months later, on 10 April 1968, when he set off from his home in Strathmore. He was working as Boys’ Welfare Officer for the Child Welfare Division in Lower Hutt.
Wind-blown
These damaged glasshouses at Lincoln in Canterbury attest to the fierce winds which hit the region in August 1975. John Fletcher was a scientist at the plant disease division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in Lincoln. His story begins as he set off for work.
Camping in a cyclone
Gemma Price (with the necklace) at the camping ground at Bland Bay, Bay of Islands, a few days after a cyclone threatened to ruin her holiday.