Police officers, like this one in Meanee in Napier, risked their lives to help others during Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: Supplied / Bradley Goldfinch
Five police officers have received awards for putting their lives on the line to save others in Hastings during Cyclone Gabrielle.
The awards were presented at the Police Association annual conference in Wellington on Wednesday.
Two award recipients, Detective Constable Jaime Stewart and Detective Sergeant Heath Jones, arrived at a Hastings neighbourhood on 14 February when floodwaters were at their ankles.
Within minutes, they found themselves struggling through currents up to their chests.
They had been called in to help a fellow officer who had taken refuge on top of a shed with her baby and four-year-old boy.
Stewart said they knew they had to remain calm, despite the rapidly worsening situation.
"The little boy had some form of superhero outfit and I remember we were like 'what's you're favourite superhero?' and I was telling him 'I like Batman because he's just a normal person but in a superhero outfit'. Just trying to tell him it's going to be okay and keeping the spirits high, because the kids don't understand the gravity of the situation," Stewart said.
With little time to rest, they spotted an elderly couple, who were close to exhaustion after being swamped by quickly rising waters.
Award winners (from left) Detective Sergeant Heath Jones, Constable Patrick Noiseux, Constable Kurtis Maney, Detective Constable Jaime Stewart, and Constable Mark Bancroft. Photo: RNZ/ Bill Hickman
Jones said there was no time for fear while others were in need.
"There was a time me and Jaime were walking along against the current and we heard an almighty crash behind us.
"We turned to see the iron fence just give way and just thought 'well something in the water very large just went straight through that' and we looked at each other [and] went 'oh well, here we go'."
The two officers swam the elderly couple to safety through fast-flowing waters strewn with dead sheep and debris.
Jones said he was grateful for the award, but it was important to draw attention to the other officers and locals who had immediately banded together.
"Everyone just pitched in, shoulder to shoulder.
"Civilians helped out, they provided boats, heavy vehicles. They did everything they could for their neighbour and for people who they didn't know.
"So we're just a bit lucky and a bit fortunate to be honoured this way," he said.
Police arrived to help at this flooded property in Whangārei during Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: RNZ/ Soumya Bhamidipati
Constable Kurtis Maney said he and constables Patrick Noiseux and Mark Bancroft, who also received the awards, were suddenly swept away as they tried to get six people to stable ground.
"I saw Patrick go under and he was holding onto someone, so I've just gone to grab Patrick whilst I'm holding onto someone and then a few seconds later everyone's just gone under and flowed into that hedge.
"At that stage, I've gone under holding onto an elderly lady and obviously they were was stressing out... but I just felt like we we're there for them and that was our job," Maney said.
Noiseux said a local came to his aid and used the bucket of his digger to lift him towards stranded people, as they clung to trees in surging water.
"I'm in the water up to my chest, these guys are stuck... they're trying to keep them all together.
"There are powerlines, so a helicopter can't help, a boat can't help and when that truck showed up with a digger on the back I'm like 'that's what I needed!'," Noiseux said.
His fellow officers never hesitated to jump into water strewn with roofing iron, fence posts and dead animals, Noiseux said.
"Our job is that you get up in the morning, something's going to happen, and we're there to help out. Problem solving, that's what it is every time. Arrive and help people.
"It's not even questionable as to not being there.
"So I think the mindset is completely different," he said.
Former Governor General Anand Satyanand said the officers' actions were an indication of how valuable police were to New Zealanders, in unprecedented moments and during their everyday work.
