Storm in New Zealand: at least four dead, including a child, and 1,400 missing

At least four people have died, including a child, and 1,400 people are still missing in New Zealand after the country was hit by Cyclone Gabrielle, which triggered extensive flooding and landslides.

Military helicopters lifted storm survivors off their roofs and airlifted them to safety today as rescuers begin arriving in regions cut off by days of torrential rain and hurricane-force winds.

Cyclone Gabrielle hit the north of the country on Monday and has caused more destruction in the nation of 5 million people than any other weather event in years, with 10,500 people displaced.

The disaster has cut roads, collapsed houses and knocked out power in a swath of New Zealand’s North Island, home to more than three-quarters of the country’s five million people.

The number of human victims continues to rise. Police said the body of a child was found in Eskdale in Hawke’s Bay on the remote east coast, and the youngster is believed to have “been trapped in flood water”.

People stand on the roof of a house waiting to be taken to safety by helicopter in the Esk Valley near Napier, New Zealand, on Wednesday.

A view of flood damage after Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand, on Wednesday.

Three other bodies were also recovered, including a woman who died when her house was crushed by a landslide and a victim believed to be a volunteer firefighter trapped by a collapsing house near Auckland.

“The devastation is widespread and has taken a toll far beyond people’s property and livelihoods,” New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said.

There have been four confirmed deaths and the pain must be unimaginable.

The disaster has cut roads, collapsed houses and knocked out power in a swath of New Zealand’s North Island, home to more than three-quarters of the country’s five million people.

With the cell phone network down, police received 1,442 reports of people still ‘untraceable’ on the North Island as of Wednesday afternoon.

“We expect the vast majority of these people to be accounted for,” Hipkins said, “but there are a number of missing people that police have serious concerns about.”

In response, the New Zealand Army deployed three NH90 helicopters on reconnaissance and rescue flights to the hard-hit Hawke’s Bay area, finding families, pets and co-workers huddled on soggy tin roofs, surrounded by a sea of ​​murky water. full of debris.

“In some cases, the flood waters reached the second floor of the houses where people were being rescued,” a military spokesman said.

As the storm recedes in the South Pacific, rescue teams are finally reaching regions cut off by the storm.

At an evacuation center in Whangarei, in the far north, Margaret, 66, who asked that her last name not be published, said she fled her property when water came in and the power went out.

An aerial photo taken on February 14 shows flooding from Cyclone Gabrielle in Awatoto, near the city of Napier.

This handout photo taken on February 14 shows a flooded area in Wairoa, on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island.

Military helicopters lifted storm survivors off their roofs and airlifted them to safety today as rescuers begin arriving in regions cut off by days of torrential rain and hurricane-force winds.

The army clears downed trees near Matarangi in the Coromandel area of ​​the North Island on Tuesday.

His daughter, who lives 600 kilometers (373 miles) away in Napier on the east coast, was also forced to leave their home when a landslide hit the area.

‘She had been calling me earlier, checking on me and then this happened to her; it’s unbelievable, really,” she told AFP.

“She is young, so it is a big setback for her and her husband. I’ll be fine, I’ve got people here I can stay with and things will dry out eventually.

Emergencies Minister Kieran McAnulty said around 10,500 people had been displaced. Authorities estimate that 160,000 homes remain without power.

McAnulty praised the “phenomenal” efforts of rescuers and military personnel who rescued “approximately 300 people from rooftops” in Hawke’s Bay, a sprawl of lush farmland, rugged mountains and hard-to-reach towns.

He said a group of 60 people were rescued from a large building abandoned by floodwaters.

Aerial images of the area showed a once bucolic landscape, torn by torrents of floodwater, latticed with dilapidated roads and scarred by massive landslides.

Authorities announced a national state of emergency on Tuesday for the third time in the country’s history. The other two were for the 2019 Christchurch attacks and the Covid-19 pandemic.

A house lies destroyed at the bottom of a large landslide on Domain Crescent in Muriwai after Cyclone Gabrielle on February 14.

A house lies destroyed at the bottom of a large landslide on Moututara Road in Muriwai on February 14.

An aerial photo taken on February 15 shows flooding in the city of Napier, located on the east coast of the North Island.

An aerial photo taken on February 15 shows flooding in the city of Napier, located on the east coast of the North Island.

Two huge cottonwood trees succumbed to Cyclone Gabrielle near Warkworth on February 14 in Auckland, New Zealand.

Cyclone Gabrielle formed off the northeast coast of Australia in the Coral Sea on February 8, before moving through the South Pacific.

It touched down on the north coast of New Zealand on Sunday, bringing gusts of 140 kilometers (87 miles) per hour.

Over the next 24 hours, coastal communities were drenched in nearly eight inches (20 centimeters) of rain and battered by 36-foot (11-meter) waves.

Many parts of northern New Zealand were already inundated when Cyclone Gabrielle struck, having been drenched in record rainfall two weeks ago.

Scientists say Gabrielle had fed on unusually warm seas, driven by a combination of climate change and La Niña weather patterns.