Ivy Collins: 2-year-old dies as parents try to save family from Cyclone Gabrielle's raging floodwaters
HAWKE’S BAY, NEW ZEALAND: A two-year-old girl tragically died after being swept away in raging floodwaters as her parents desperately attempted to save the family during the calamity. Ivy Collins died on Tuesday, February 14, when her parents Ella and Jack Collins tried to evacuate her and her older sister Imogen Collins from their family home in Eskdale, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand.
Jack and his wife, Ella, who is pregnant with their third child, woke up at around 3 am on Tuesday to find their home rapidly filling with water following disastrous rains brought by Cyclone Gabrielle. The couple frantically grabbed their daughters and attempted to leave as a massive wave crashed into their one-story house. The family somehow managed to make their way through the pitch-black house and tried to climb onto their neighbor's roof, according to the Daily Mail
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“They were trying to come up with a plan, they had a few minutes, trying to get the dogs inside, organize the pets, and then this wave came through which added to the water in the house quite significantly, sort of halfway up the walls," the children's uncle, Adam Collins told the NZ Herald. Ge added, “At that point, they knew they had to get out. It’s a one-story house, they didn’t have roof space.” Adam said Jack and Imogen were able to ‘scramble’ onto the roof but Ella and Ivy were knocked down by the gigantic waves.
Where was Ivy Collins found?
"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," Adams stated. He continued, "There's nothing they could've done... she had her on her shoulders and she slipped out, her feet were taken out from underneath." Ivy's distraught father spent hours searching for his little girl but her body was located by search and rescue members on Wednesday, February 15, not far from where she was ripped from her mother.
Ella confirmed Ivy’s death in a Facebook post, saying "Our youngest daughter Ivy has drowned and died in the flash flooding, she was almost 2½, it was an unavoidable accident and she died very quickly. Search and Rescue have found her body, and Jack and I have identified her. She is with the coroner before being taken to our chosen funeral home." Ella added that the disastrous floodwater has destroyed her home, her treasured garden, and all the family's belongings.
'Jack is a f**king hero'
"The water was about 10cm from the ceiling in our house and rose extremely quickly and violently," she said. Ella added, "We were unable to make it to higher ground due to a sudden torrent of water which almost drowned us all and took Ivy." The mother described Ivy’s father as "a f**king hero" who gave relentless efforts to save the family and neighbors. "Jack is the only reason that he, myself, Imogen and our neighbors survived. He is a literal fucking hero and one day I will tell you all what he's done," she wrote in the post.
Following the tragedy, a Givealittle page was also organized to raise money for the Collins to start a new life. The fundraiser has raised almost $70,000 in just 14 hours. "Ella and her family have no home to go back to, the beautiful gardens she had worked so lovingly in to create is gone, a land full of veggies and fruit to feed her family gone," the organizers wrote in the post. "Hugs, love, and thoughts to you all, and please donate big or small it will all mean the world to them… such giving people who now deserve our help," the post added.