Cyclone Gabrielle: Former NRL star Issac Luke’s dad dies in NZ floods

Nine people are understood to have dead in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle, including two-year-old Ivy Collins, whose home was flooded.

The official death toll sits at eight but there have been reports a 59-year-old woman was found dead in the roof cavity of her home.

Former South Sydney Rabbitohs and NZ Warriors star Issac Luke’s father George Luke and his partner Mau Goodman were driving over the Kaweka Ranges on Monday night when the car they were driving was hit by a slip twice, reports NZ Herald.

A search for the pair was launched after family members could not reach them. They were airlifted out by helicopter on Thursday but Mr Luke later died in hospital.

It comes after the mother of two-year-old Ivy tried desperately to save her daughter from rising floodwaters, but the girl drowned after falling from her shoulders.

Ms Collins’ uncle, Adam Collins, told the NZ Herald the family were woken about 3am on Tuesday with water inside the house.

The couple, Jack and his pregnant wife Ella, quickly went to their two daughters, Imogen and Ivy.

“They were trying to come up with a plan, they had a few minutes, trying to get the dogs inside, organise the pets, and then this wave came through which added to the water in the house quite significantly, sort of halfway up the walls,” he said.

“At that point they knew they had to get out. It’s a one-storey house, they didn’t have roof space.”

“They’ve got a kid each, they go out the door, and another wave comes through on the way over to this house … it takes her [Ella] away, she says save Imogen, my brother Jack manages to scramble onto this house and rips open the roof, cutting up his arm pretty bad, and he throws this little kid into the roof space and says stay there.

“He doesn’t know if he’s coming back … he finds his wife floating around and manages to get her back to safety … but by that time they’d lost the little one. There’s nothing they could’ve done … She had her on her shoulders and she slipped out, her feet were taken out from underneath.”

They spent hours in the dark trying to find their daughter, including climbing a tree yelling out her name, while also helping his neighbours get to safety inside the roof space.

The family were eventually rescued from the home and the next day Ivy, who they describe as their “beautiful little cherub”, was found dead.

“There was nothing they could’ve done more than they did,” Mr Collins said.

“We are all so proud of how he responded we have no doubt that all five of them are still here today because of the way he responded.”

Ivy’s mother Ella posted on Facebook that flash flooding that “completely destroyed” their family home.

“It was an unavoidable accident and she died very quickly,” she said. “We are all going to need all the love we can get.”

Originally published as Cyclone Gabrielle: Former NRL star Issac Luke’s dad dies in NZ floods