- Death toll of five is set to rise as full horror of Cyclone Gabrielle destruction is revealed
- 3544 people had been listed as uncontactable by police, 9000 people displaced from their homes in Hawke’s Bay
- Tens of thousands remain without power, Transpower warns power could be out for ‘days or weeks’
More than 3500 people have been classified by police as “uncontactable” after Cyclone Gabrielle as Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says New Zealanders need “to prepare for the likelihood there will be more fatalities”.
Police say around 450 people have reported themselves safe, after earlier being classed as “uncontactable” and they expect this number to rise, as communication channels rebuild. The official death toll from the cyclone remains at five, with the body of a man in his 60s having been located in Gisborne floodwaters.
Police said today 3544 people had been registered via the Police 105 online reporting form as uncontactable. They said many of this number were “likely duplicates”.
“Police are focused on locating those unaccounted for and reaching anyone who may have been isolated by flood waters. Searches are being carried out carefully and methodically, which takes time.”
They confirmed they were responding to some burglaries across the district and “will be taking a hard line with anyone acting unlawfully and compounding the suffering of our hard-hit communities”.
Cyclone Gabrielle’s horrific destruction has been laid bare in new images from Hawke’s Bay’s Esk Valley, where homes and vehicles have been destroyed, crops ruined and at least one person, a young child, has died. In nearby Napier, desperate residents are queuing for petrol, cash and gas as the city faces up to two weeks without power.
There have been almost 500 lightning strikes in some storm-affected regions this afternoon and a severe thunderstorm watch is in place until 10pm for regions already reeling from the cyclone, including Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne. Bay of Plenty - including Taupo and Rotorua - are also under the severe thunderstorm watch.
In good news, the link between Napier and Hastings is now again open - but only to emergency services and critical workers. The safety of Waitangi Bridge on SH51 was assessed and the road between Napier and Hastings will reopen for emergency services and workers critical to the response effort. The road had to close earlier today ahead of a safety assessment by engineers. The road will be under temporary speed limits and is reduced to a single lane.
Esk Valley photographs, by Hawke’s Bay Today photographer Warren Buckland, reveal a number of homes have been completely destroyed along Shaw Rd, off State Highway 5, near the Esk River north of Napier. The images show overturned cars and trees having been catapulted through houses by the raging floodwaters. Homes are caked in mud and silt several feet deep.
Power lines are also buckling and significantly damaged while large chunks of the vital Napier-Taupo Rd have simply disappeared. Hukarere Girls’ College, a secondary boarding school, has also suffered significant damage with water lines showing the floodwater reached halfway up the buildings.
The death toll from Cyclone Gabrielle is five - three in Hawke’s Bay, one in Gisborne and volunteer firefighter Dave van Zwanenberg who died at Muriwai helping evacuate residents on Monday night.
Widow Amy van Zwanenberg today spoke of her “extraordinary husband”, remembering him for his “good humour, his authentic care, his astronomic intelligence and supreme competence at pretty much anything he turned his hand to”.
She said her husband was the “cornerstone of our lives” and her family was “utterly devastated” by his death.
“First and foremost, a family man, Dave was dedicated to spending quality time with his children and building a life to nurture their growth. We decided that Muriwai and its beautiful community was the perfect place for this. Monday night started out as just another occasion where Dave made sure we were settled and safe at home and headed out to join the fire brigade and help his community.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins - speaking from Gisborne - acknowledged today it was a “lonely and isolating” time for those cut off by the cyclone’s aftermath. He said restoring infrastructure was a “very big challenge” and acknowledged the strain and stress could go on for some time. There was no instant fix, he said.
It was “almost certainly” time to rethink parts of the road network, he said. “We have to get real about some of the roads and the fact we are going to have to move some of the roads to where they are more resilient.”
There are thunderstorm warnings for part of Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne and heavy rain forecast for Auckland, where officials say 16,000 homes remain without power. Forty-six properties in Tāmaki Makaurau have been red-stickered and 101 have been yellow-stickered this week after Cyclone Gabrielle - that’s on top of the more than 250 properties red-stickered and more than 800 yellow-stickered after the January floods.
Meanwhile, police have slammed looters who had targeted flood-hit Gisborne businesses overnight. Eastern police district commander Superintendent Jeanette Park said there were a number of commercial burglaries overnight with five people arrested. Extra officers were being flown in today.
Eastern police district commander Superintendent Jeanette Park said there were a number of commercial burglaries overnight and five people had been arrested. Extra officers were being flown in today.
“We’re taking a very hard line in relation to any unlawful, criminal behaviour. It is just so unfair to steal from people who potentially have lost everything. That is truly unfair,” Superintendent Jeanette Park said.
A severe thunderstorm watch has been issued for the Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, eastern Taupo, the ranges of Hawke's Bay and Gisborne, and Gisborne north of Tolaga Bay from between 3pm and 10pm today.
MetService is warning a few of the thunderstorms could be severe with localised downpours of 25 to 40mm per hour and hail.
Gisborne’s Mayor Rehette Stoltz said she was “devastated” by the news of the death this morning, and the whole community was reeling.
The full extent of the destruction - from the east coast regions of Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne to Auckland’s west coast beach settlements of Muriwai and Piha - is starting to dawn. Thousands of people are out of their homes, more than 1400 people remain ”uncontactable” on a missing-person database, and new images reveal wrecked roads and bridges, properties, and infrastructure.
One startling Defence Force image shows a truck-and-trailer unit surrounded by by debris on a wrecked section of State Highway 2 between Napier and Wairoa.
Police say 1442 people remain “uncontactable” - while they expect this number to drop dramatically, they have “grave concerns” for at least several of them in the Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne regions.
Community fears are also growing of multiple deaths in one of the areas hardest hit by Cyclone Gabrielle, with coastal residents of Napier’s Bay View claiming they saw several bodies washed away by raging flood waters.
As search crews in Hawke’s Bay continue to try and get to people stranded by the floodwaters created by Cyclone Gabrielle, residents of Bay View and nearby Esk Valley – which had areas decimated and parts of it remaining underwater – spoke of their fears of more fatalities.
One man said a relative had seen multiple bodies floating in water near Bay View. Another – who lives in a property on the Bay View shoreline – said other locals had told him they had seen the same thing.
And prominent Eskdale resident, former Havelock North Borough Council councillor and mayor and one-term MP Jeff Whittaker said he had grave fears for those trapped by surging flood waters in Esk Valley.
“I can imagine there will be some people lost in there,” he told The New Zealand Herald. “There could be. I know a lot of people who live up the Valley. At Esk Park there is a housing [development] up there and we have no idea what has happened up there.
“We can’t go up there [to check]. There is no phone or communications [up there]. There could have been [a few more swept away] ... it took so long getting to [the area due to conditions].”
Earlier, Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise told Newstalk ZB this morning that the region was slowly beginning to open up, with more supplies and help on the way. There was still no power throughout the region and cellphone coverage was patchy Tap water was safe and she encouraged everyone to stay hydrated.
The Defence Force expects to move a water treatment facility to Wairoa, and a rapid relief team that reached the town yesterday will be handing out up to 500 food packages.
Engineers and roading crews are checking bridges and clearing roads throughout both regions.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins is due to fly to Gisborne this morning in what will be his first in-person look at the scale of destruction from Cyclone Gabrielle.
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency said State Highway 51, a vital link between Napier, Clive and Hastings, reopened at 8pm on Wednesday following an assessment by engineers.
State Highway 50, the Napier-Hastings Expressway, remains closed but contractors would likely be in a position to start clearing debris from today.
Hundreds of eastern region residents have been rescued from rooftops and waters since floods inundated the region, cutting off roads, bridges, and isolating communities.
Entire regions have been isolated with zero contact, people still remain uncontactable. Essentials like water, food and fuel are in short supply in many places.
The situation has been described as “dire” by officials, with a fuel limit of $40 imposed by the Gisborne District Council.
More than 9000 people have left their homes around Hawke’s Bay, with 3000 of them staying in Civil Defence facilities.
A woman is still missing in Hawke’s Bay after the Eskdale property she was housesitting was suddenly inundated by floodwaters early on Tuesday morning, RNZ reported.
At about 2.30am on Tuesday, floodwaters ripped through the house at an “absolutely mad speed”, even though the building had been designed to survive floods - it was built on 1.2 metre piles.
Police are now pouring more officers and staff into Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne.
“With other storm-affected districts reporting they are able to manage their response within existing resources, Police National Headquarters is now focused on critical support for Eastern District,” said the police statement.
“We are redeploying more than 70 staff from Bay of Plenty, Central, Wellington, Tasman, Canterbury and Southern districts, as well as the Royal New Zealand Police College, to Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti over the next 48 hours.”
Police on Wednesday also deployed 12 search and rescue specialist staff to assist with recovery efforts in the district. The additional staff would support recovery efforts and provide community reassurance.
- additional reporting RNZ
