![]() Trees damaged by gale-force winds at a commercial pine forest in Tongariro. Her mother had told her everything was fine as she fed her horses on Tuesday morning. Jenna Marsh from central Hawke’s Bay said the water rose metres in minutes at her parents’ house in Pakowhai – a town between Hastings and Napier. Warnings were issued by civil defence officials on Sunday that residents of several areas should prepare to evacuate, but for many, the perilous speed of the rising water came as a shock. Fleming cannot return home – or travel to the nearby city of Hastings to stay with his son – because bridges and state highways in the area are impassable due to flooding, slips and downed trees.Īrmy trucks and air force helicopters were sent to rescue hundreds of people in Hawke’s Bay on Tuesday as residents of cut-off settlements took to their roofs. The Esk River across the street from Fleming’s house breached its banks on Tuesday morning and he was told that water at surrounding properties reached roof level. Some had stayed behind when he evacuated two days ago and now cannot be reached by phone. Some of the worst-affected areas were rural towns that were isolated even before the storm hit, with potholed roads and patchy cellphone reception.Įven as painstaking restoration of services continued on Wednesday, communication woes made it difficult to assess the scale of the devastation.įleming hoped those ferried back and forth in the army helicopters above him on Wednesday included his neighbours in Eskdale – a rural settlement 25km north of Napier. The trail of damage included fatal landslips, closed highways that cut off towns, flooding so severe and rapid that hundreds of people awaited rescue on their roofs, and widespread power, water and telecommunications outages. ![]() ![]() The ex-tropical cyclone which lashed New Zealand’s North Island on Monday and Tuesday – with high winds and heavy rain wreaking havoc in more than half a dozen regions – was the worst storm to hit New Zealand this century, said the prime minister, Chris Hipkins, whose government announced a rare national state of emergency on Tuesday.įour deaths have been confirmed by the police, including a child whose body was found in Eskdale on Wednesday afternoon. Photograph: Marty Melville/AFP/Getty Images ![]() This picture shows a coastal home after part of its back garden and sand was washed away during the storm surge caused by Cyclone Gabrielle in Waihi Beach in the Bay of Plenty. ![]()
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