‘Like the Apocalypse’: NZ Resident Recounts Cyclone Gabrielle Experience

Cleaning up the logs that rushed down Esk Valley. Courtesy of Ashley Church

On the morning of Feb. 14, after Cyclone Gabrielle struck the North Island of New Zealand, Ashley Church woke up to see backyards and roads completely flooded.

Miraculously, his own house was untouched, just mere metres away from the flood waters.