Three killed in New Zealand cyclone as clean-up begins | Weather News
Hurricane Gabrielle tore apart towns, swept away houses and left people stranded on rooftops.
Three people have been confirmed dead and thousands displaced in New Zealand after Cyclone Gabrielle caused widespread flooding and landslides in the north of the country.
Gabrielle, who arrived in New Zealand on Sunday before making her way down the east coast of the North Island, cut off entire towns, swept away farms, bridges and cattle, and flooded homes, leaving people People trapped on rooftops.
It is weakening and moving away on Wednesday.
“Thankfully, we’ve weathered the worst of the storm, but we’re not out of danger yet,” Emergency Management Secretary Kieran McAnulty said in a televised news conference.
“This is a catastrophic disaster and it will take weeks for the hardest hit areas to recover… we are in this situation for a long time.”
Among the dead were two people, including a volunteer firefighter, who died in the landslide.
A third body was found in the hard-hit Hawke’s Bay on the east coast but authorities said the circumstances of that death remained unclear.
Residents in the worst-affected areas are being asked to conserve water and food out of fear of shortages. Gabrielle was the second major storm to hit the North Island in weeks as Auckland was still recovering from torrential rain and flooding that left four people dead.
About three-quarters of New Zealand’s 5 million people live on the North Island.
Authorities estimate more than 10,000 people have been evacuated so far.
A weather station in the Hawke’s Bay and Napier area recorded more than three times the amount of rain Monday night than would normally fall for the whole of February, authorities said. Wind gusts were reported at 140 kilometers (87 miles) per hour.
McAnulty said more than 300 people were rescued from the area on Tuesday, including 60 trapped on a roof. The helicopter will help carry out the final 25 rescues of individuals and groups of families on Wednesday.
Rivers in Hawke’s Bay continue to pose a risk and local emergency management ordered further evacuations early Wednesday. Some 225,000 homes across the island are still without electricity.
Mother-of-four Jennie Perris, who lives on 4 hectares (10 acres) of land in the suburb of Whangarei, about 170 kilometers (106 miles) north of Auckland, said her family has been without power since Sunday. .
Perris said the roads were clear on Tuesday and the family was able to go into town and shower at her mother’s house, charge appliances and stock up on bottled water, but have now returned to cooking.
“We’re doing everything on it,” she said.
New Zealand declared a national emergency over the storm on Tuesday, only the third time it has done so.