- Four confirmed dead and 1442 people uncontactable
- At least 10,500 people displaced from homes, 9000 in Hawke’s Bay, 3000 sheltering in Civil Defence centres, 144,000 properties remain without power
- Wrecked homes, roads and loss of power, and communication in Wairoa, Gisborne, Napier, Hastings and other eastern coast towns
- 12 helicopters working to rescue trapped Hawke’s Bay residents, 25 groups awaiting rescue, one building had 60 people on the roof
Four people have been confirmed dead including a young child, following Cyclone Gabrielle’s path of destruction.
- Body found in search for trapped firefighter
- Flood survivors tell harrowing tales
- Otago emergency workers heading to help out
Another 1442 people are still uncontactable, according to police, who say they have ‘grave fears’ for some of them.
Police said the the body of a young person was located in Eskdale shortly before 2pm today. The child is believed to have been caught in rising water yesterday.
The fourth death follows the recovery this afternoon of the body of a volunteer firefighter from a landslide in Muriwai early this afternoon.
The firefighter was checking flooding in a property on Motutara Rd on Monday, when the property was hit by another house that collapsed during the widespread winds and rains unleashed by Cyclone Gabrielle.
A second firefighter, named today as Craig Stevens, who was in the property at the time got out and was taken to hospital. He is now in critical but stable condition.
Two other people have died in Hawke’s Bay - a person died following a landslip on a rural property in Matahorua Rd, Putorino, yesterday afternoon and a body was located on the shore in Bay View, Napier last night.
“Police extend their condolences to the families of those who have died and continue to make enquiries into the circumstances.”
As at 2.30pm on Wednesday, 1442 people had been registered via the Police 105 online reporting form as uncontactable. There are 111 reports of people now safe.
“The vast majority of reports are from Eastern District (Hawke’s Bay and Tairawhiti) alone, with the remainder from across the North Island. The numbers include duplicate reports of the same person reported uncontactable by different people. While we expect a large number of the reports to be the result of communication lines being down, Police can confirm there are several people missing in the Hawke’s Bay and Tairawhiti areas, for whom we have grave concerns.”
At least 10,500 people are displaced from their homes across the North Island, including 9000 across Hawke’s Bay and 3000 people are sheltering in Civil Defence centres. People are struggling today to come to terms with the incredible loss of life, property, animals, roads and crops.
More than 300 residents have been rescued from rooftops and waters since floods inundated the region, cutting off roads, bridges and isolating communities.
Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty sent his condolences to the family, community and volunteers after the discovery of a body at the Muriwai house where a volunteer firefighter had been trapped in a slip.
“This has been hard.”
Stranded horse on roof dies
One staggering aerial photograph of a horse stranded on a building in flooded Hawke’s Bay has sparked a desperate bid by animal lovers across New Zealand to rescue the stricken animal.
The photograph, shared by the New Zealand Equestrian Scene Facebook page, shows the animal on the roof of a building on Dartmoor Rd in Puketapu, beside the Tutaekuri River.
On Wednesday afternoon the Facebook page posted that the horse on the roof had died and other horses were safe with hay and water.
Equine advertising specialist Aria Ross said in a post the roof the horse was standing on “gave in”.
Ross said they were unsure who the bay or the owner is, but the animal was in “fat, healthy and loved condition”.
“I can’t stop crying,” one woman wrote on seeing the image, which also shows another horse on a bank beside the flooded paddock that has consumed the building.
Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazelhurst earlier said families across the country are growing frustrated and upset over a lack of information surrounding the condition of their lost loved ones.
”We’re telling people, just give us a chance and we will get to everybody,” she said.
Power is still out across the region, a main transformer in Napier is submerged and telecommunications are down. Spark is urgently sending satellite units to reconnect the region.
Further north and the people of Muriwai are said to be “shell-shocked” by the devastating loss of property.
”I am in shock. I have lost my house and I work from home so I have lost my job as well,” one Muruwai resident told The New Zealand Herald.
Coromandel locals are still largely cut off from the rest of the country - with land instability compromising its entire roading network.
Civil Defence confirmed a number of houses on the coast have already been red-stickered, power is still out in most of the region and the New Zealand Defence Force is surveying the district.
Domestic flights resumed across the country as of 6.30am, but airline scheduling disruptions are still likely.
This morning, Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence said flooding and inundation into the coastal suburb of Te Awa Estate was “escalating”, saying it was recommending all residents in the area evacuate to family or friends’ homes.
It comes as new images reveal the extent of destruction caused by Gabrielle. Aerial photographs show towns such as Wairoa have been completely swamped by floodwaters, while Gisborne, Napier, Hastings and other settlements along the North Island east coast struggle with the loss of homes, roads, power, phones and the internet.
The Defence Force has released images of residents being plucked from their rooftops in Esk Valley, near Napier. Homes and properties were completely swamped in the area. The Defence Force said three NH90 helicopters were used to rescue people from their homes.
And aerial photographs released by Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence show Wairoa has been isolated, with homes under water. There are fears the town has supplies for only one more day - authorities are striving urgently to build communication and transport channels with the town.
Wairoa’s river burst its banks, inundating 10-15 percent of the town which is home to around half of the town’s 8000 population. With no power or phones, the only communication is via satellite phone. Wairoa council used Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites to make contact. The area faces “severe challenges”, it said.
In an email on Tuesday evening, the council says Wairoa has been “significantly impacted by river flooding as a result of Cyclone Gabrielle.”
Hundreds of people have been evacuated. “We are managing but we are geographically isolated and facing severe challenges. These include food and water supply, fuel and communications. We are working to ensure people’s safety and trying to provide the best services we can given our limitations.”
There are very limited supplies of food and water with no drinking water supply due to the flooding. An RNZAF reconnaissance flight was to be sent to the northern Hawke’s Bay town. “Wairoa, particularly, is of concern,” McAnulty earlier said about communication with the town.
Almost a quarter of a million people were plunged into darkness yesterday and entire communities were cut off as Gabrielle wrought devastation, forcing thousands of evacuations from some of the hardest-hit regions.
Telecommunications, including phone lines and internet services, have been stretched, as police stood up a major operation to cope with reports people could not be reached in cyclone-stricken regions.
A national state of emergency was declared yesterday morning - as Prime Minister Chris Hipkins called Gabrielle the most severe weather event this century, with damage unseen since Cyclone Bola in 1988.
