Dates scheduled for coroner's hearings into Auckland flood and Cyclone Gabrielle deaths

• Coroner Erin Woolley will hold hearings into the deaths of 18 people from 2023′s Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods and Cyclone Gabrielle
• The inquiry is likely to examine warnings, weather forecasts, landslide and flood risks, preparedness and emergency responses in affected areas
• Hearings are scheduled in Auckland and Hastings from June to November

A coroner has set aside nearly six weeks this year for hearings into the deaths of 18 people who died during or after the Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle in early 2023.

The hearings will be held in Auckland in June, July and August, and in Hastings in October and November.

Coroner Erin Woolley announced last year she was conducting a coronial inquiry into the weather-related fatalities, including those of three men who died in the following months and whose deaths may have been self-inflicted.

Her inquiry will look into issues arising from the Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods, which began on 27 January, 2023, and Cyclone Gabrielle, which devastated the North Island's east coast two weeks later.

This is a similar approach to that taken in a coroner's inquiry into the multiple deaths in the Christchurch mosque attacks in 2019.

The youngest of the people included in Coroner Woolley's inquiry is toddler Ivy Collins, whose family home in Eskdale was flooded in the cyclone. The oldest is Helen Street, 86, who died in Napier and was dependent on supplied oxygen.

Thirteen of the fatalities were men. In addition to 2-year-old Ivy, four women died.

A hearing at the Hastings District Court last year was told that three men who died in the months following the cyclone would be included in the scope of the inquiry. They died in March, April and August 2023.

The Auckland part of Woolley's inquiry is likely to look at what warnings were issued to the public, the weather forecasts, what was known about landslide risks in relevant areas, and whether emergency responses were adequate, timely and appropriate.

The issues in the Hawke's Bay and Tai Rāwhiti Gisborne section will probably include what was known about the risk of flooding at Te Karaka, Eskdale and Puketapu, and the planning decisions made about residential development in those areas.

The coroner is also likely to look at flood warnings, weather event preparedness and the response of emergency services, given some people who called 111 during the cyclone were told there was no help available.

Daniel Miller, 34, Dave Young, 58, Daniel Newth, 25, and David Lennard, 78, died during the Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods.

Two Muriwai volunteer firefighters, Craig Stevens, 39, and Dave van Zwanenberg, 41, died a fortnight later as Cyclone Gabrielle struck on February 13.

The cyclone was also associated with 12 deaths in Hawke's Bay, Tai Rāwhiti Gisborne and surrounding areas.

Nine people who died between 14 and 16 February, 2023 have been named previously: Susane Caccioppoli, 55, John Coates, 64, Ivy Collins, 2, Marie Greene, 59, George Luke, 64, Ian McLauchlan, 76, Brendan Miller, 43, Helen Street, 86, and Shona Wilson, 58.

The other three were the men who died in the following months.

Coroner Woolley, in a minute issued last July, said that her inquiry would take priority over some other, older cases currently before the coroners.

This was because of the high level of public interest, and because New Zealand is facing more frequent and severe weather events.

"There is an increased likelihood of further weather events with widespread effects ... occurring again," she said.

"It is in the public interest that any lessons that can be taken from these events are addressed before another such event occurs."

The Auckland hearings are scheduled to be held at the Newmarket Court Hearing Centre from 30 June to 4 July, and from 18-29 August.

The Hawke's Bay hearings will be held at the Hastings courthouse from 7-17 October, and from 10-14 November.

* This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.