A Hawke’s Bay family, including a 7-year-old boy, are lucky to be alive after clinging to a log in swollen floodwaters for eight hours while they waited to be rescued.

Molly Leigh told the Herald her mother Sonya Kilmister, sister Ella Kilmister and brother Toby Edwards who live on Dartmoor Rd woke to severe flooding on Tuesday morning.

“My sister woke up to a scrambled message from our mum around 5.30am saying that the stopbank had been overwhelmed, so she called her and managed to get a 20-second phone call through.”

“Mum was hysterical, just screaming for help and saying that things were dire.”

Molly and dog Casper that was saved, Sonya and dog Nala that was swept away Toby and sister Sarah Cotter.

Leigh, who lives in Palmerston North, didn’t hear from her family again until 8.45am this morning.

In the minute-long phone call with her mum, Leigh learned of the horrifying ordeal her family had to endure to survive.

“She said that they were rescued out of the water at 4pm [yesterday] and she said they were in the water for over eight hours and that they had managed to cling onto a tree branch,” said Leigh.

 “She had to let my little dog go in the water.”

Leigh said her family were picked up by a rescue helicopter but only after hearing several helicopters fly overhead multiple times.

“[They were] hoping that it was coming for them but it kept not being for them,” Leigh said.

“I know that search and rescue were really under-resourced and that they’re probably doing the best they can but it’s frustrating to hear that my family were in the water for eight hours. I genuinely thought that they were all gone.”

Hundreds of people were rescued from raging Hawke's Bay floodwaters. Photo / Paul Taylor

Leigh understands that the flooding was up to the roof of the family home, which is a 100-year-old renovated villa.

She also believes that their horses have been washed away.

Leigh’s nana Joan Kilmister, whose house is on the same property, was also picked up by a rescue helicopter but from her roof.

“When my family woke up it was too late [for them] to try and get over there [nana’s house].”

Leigh has spent over 24 hours worried for her family, and while she is relieved that they are safe and well she is still worried about what the long-term implications will be.

Taradale residents being evacuated. Photo / Paul Taylor

Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty said 12 helicopters are still at work rescuing people in Hawke’s Bay and are expected to get them all today.

McAnulty said there was one building with 60 people on top of it.

Hundreds of people have now been rescued by emergency services, including the Defence Force, amid Cyclone Gabrielle’s war on Hawke’s Bay.

They include a group of seasonal workers stranded by floodwaters, rescued near Hastings by personnel from the New Zealand Army and New Zealand Police using four Unimog trucks on Tuesday, according to New Zealand Defence Force media release.

An Esk Valley, Hawke's Bay, resident is plucked to safety by Defence Force personnel in an NH90 helicopter. Photo / NZDF

Defence Minister Andrew Little said NH90s had been used to rescue people off roofs “and about five dogs have also been rescued.”

Upwards of 300 people had been rescued yesterday and there are currently about 9000 people displaced, 3000 of whom were in civil defence centres.

Many have made desperate pleas online to know if their loved ones are safe after Cyclone Gabrielle hit the region.

Many parts of Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne continue to be swamped by floodwaters and people are struggling with the loss of homes, roads, power, phones and the internet.