The 47-year-old spent much of last week flying Otago Southland Rescue Helicopter’s Airbus H-145 in cyclone-ravaged Hawke’s Bay and East Cape.
The crew arrived in the area as Cyclone Gabrielle was still pounding the country, and he said it required "every ounce" of his 22-year flying experience to operate the helicopter.
"All the wind and rain we were getting on the Tuesday — the weather was terrible.
"You’d get really heavy showers of rain, the cloud cover would get lower and lower.
"The last couple of jobs we did before pulling the pin each day were pretty challenging for the crew.
"The worst times were when you had low light and heavy rain, so even with your night-vision goggles, it was difficult to see — especially with power lines around there, you’ve got to be so careful.
"When we were going through valleys and that, we all had to scout for poles on the hill before we proceeded. We had to work hard as a crew."
Mr Girven was amazed by the damage the cyclone had wreaked.
"I’ve seen floods where water is lapping up against houses at floor level, with a little bit inside the house.
"But not flooding like this. There were houses with just a little bit of roof sticking out of the water. People have been jumping into their ceilings to escape it.
"A lot of those communities are isolated and don’t have communications.
"The roads are washed out to the point that I don’t know how they’re going to fix them.
"Where a road was, there’s not even a bank any more. It’s all washed out. You’d have to cut into the hills again.
"I’ve never seen anything like that before.
"It was devastating to see what has happened to all of those people."
He said he was also pleased to be among many helicopter pilots from around the country (including an Otago Southland Rescue Helicopter BK-117 crew from Queenstown), providing a helping hand to those having some of the worst experiences of their lives.
"It was good to be able to go up and help people."
