At least four people have died in a cyclone that hit New Zealand earlier this week.
Local authorities are expected to carry out the last rescue work on Wednesday after Cyclone Gabriel caused extensive flooding and landslides.
It hit the north of the country on Monday and caused this country of 5 million people more destruction than any weather event in decades.
Police said at least four people died in the storm, including a child caught in rising water at Eskdale in Hawke’s Bay on Tuesday. All four people died near the same bay on the east coast of the North Island.
A police statement said the body of a volunteer firefighter was recovered Wednesday from a landslide that destroyed a flooded home near Oakland. Another firefighter was critically injured in the same landslide on Monday evening.
A woman also died in a landslide in Putorino and a body was found on the shore in Napier on Tuesday, police said.
Police said there were 1,442 people registered on the North Island by Wednesday afternoon who could not be contacted. The large number can be attributed to widespread disruptions in telecommunications and power supplies.
About 144,000 homes on the North Island were left without power on Wednesday, compared with 225,000 on Tuesday, The New Zealand Herald reported.
A weather station near Hawke’s Bay and Napier recorded three times more rain on Monday night than usual for all of February, authorities said.
Rescued from the rooftops
More than 300 people were rescued from the same flooded bay on Tuesday, including 60 stranded on the same roof, emergency minister Kiran Makanulti said.
Helicopters will help carry out the last 25 rescues of individuals and family groups on Wednesday.
“Our emergency services are still doing rescue work and searching for land in a number of places,” McEnalty told reporters.
Britain’s King Charles III’s sister, Princess Anne, visited New Zealand’s disaster management headquarters in the capital Wellington on Wednesday and praised the nation’s response. Her visit to New Zealand was scheduled before the cyclone struck.
“My thoughts are with all New Zealanders whose homes or livelihoods have been affected by Cyclone Gabriel,” she said in a statement.
“I admire the courage of the people of Aotearoa during this troubling and difficult time,” she said, using the Maori name for the country.
“You should all be proud of the resilience, strength and care you show for your communities in the face of adversity,” she added.
About 9,000 people have been forced to leave their homes since Monday, he said, with several communities isolated by flood waters and landslides.
“Everyone knows we have a long road ahead of us as we deal with massive damage to homes, businesses, roads and bridges, and other major parts of our infrastructure,” Makanulty said. “This is a major disaster and it will take many weeks for the hardest hit areas to recover,” he added.
Two weeks ago, Auckland was inundated by a record-breaking storm that also killed four people.
On Tuesday, a state of emergency was declared in the country, allowing the government to support the affected regions and provide additional resources. This is only the third state of emergency ever declared in the country.
