A car is submerged in flood damage in Korokipo Road, Napier. (Photo: Getty Images)
A snapshot of the widespread devastation Cyclone Gabrielle has caused across the North Island.
Updated Monday 20 February. Follow our live updates on Cyclone Gabrielle and its aftermath here.
Hundreds of homes are flooded and families displaced in Tairāwhiti Hawke’s Bay, including Gisborne, Hastings and Napier. Wairoa and the Coromandel are cut off and supplies are running low. Major slips have flattened homes in the coastal West Auckland suburbs of Piha and Muriwai. A nationwide emergency has been declared for just the third time in New Zealand.
The destruction caused by Cyclone Gabrielle is ongoing, rescue efforts are underway, and many are wondering what the future holds after the devastating tropical cyclone delivered two days of destruction. “Unprecedented and scary times” is how Piha’s Volunteer Fire Brigade described the situation, and they’re not wrong.
Here’s what we do know: Homes are ruined. Major arterial routes are unusable. Entire communities are isolated. Bridges have been washed away. Families are being rescued from the rooftops of flooded homes. Farms and livestock have been affected. Livelihoods are destroyed. In the Hawke’s Bay, a horse stands on a roof, awaiting rescue.
As the following images show, the clean-up and recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle is likely to take a very long time.
Heavy equipment starts to clear a beach of logs and debris in Gisborne. (Photo: Getty)A car is submerged in flood damage in Korokipo Road, Napier. (Photo: Getty)A cow stuck in river silt in Napier is rescued. (Photo: Getty)Minister of Finance Grant Robertson inspects damage at the Taylor Corp Packhouse in Waiohiki. (Photo: Getty)A car stuck in the silt in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle in the Esk Valley near Napier. (Photo: Getty)
Volunteers help with the clean up of Cyclone Gabrielle. (Photo: Getty)
Near Napier, the Waiohiki bridge and surrounds are inundated by the Tutaekuri River. (Photo: Getty Images)Flood and slip damage in Piha caused by Cyclone Gabrielle. (Photo: Valentina Rocca)Extent of flooding in Wairoa surveyed from the air (Photo: Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Group)Matt Hodgson assesses the damage to his Domain Crescent home in Muriwai. (Photo: Caroline Bell-Booth)People wait for a rooftop rescue (Photo: Royal New Zealand Air Force)Te Atatū locals assist efforts to clear a tree that fell during Cyclone Gabrielle on Monday night, bringing down power lines and blocking the road. (Photo: Toby Manhire)A resident watches Warkworth’s flooded Mahurangi River. (Photo: Getty Images)Forestry waste (slash) in flooded part of Hawke’s Bay (Photo: Royal New Zealand Air Force)A Piha resident surveys the damage caused by Cyclone Gabrielle. (Photo: Supplied)A home flattened by a slip in Muriwai. (Photo: Getty Images)A horse is stuck on a roof on Dartmoor Road in the Hawke’s Bay. (Photo: via Facebook)A letterbox is visible after a slip in Muriwai. (Photo: Getty Images)Rooftop rescues by the Air Force in Esk Valley, Napier (Photo: Royal New Zealand Air Force)Redcliffe Bridge is closed off as debris piles up along the Tutaekuri River in the suburb of Taradale. (Photo: Getty Images)
