Waves driven by Cyclone Gabrielle at Mount Maunganui beach. Photo / David Hall
Waves driven by Cyclone Gabrielle at Mount Maunganui beach. Photo / David Hall
Trees are down and people were evacuated from their homes, but the damage isn’t “huge” for the Western Bay of Plenty after Cyclone Gabrielle swept across Aotearoa.
Western Bay Mayor James Denyer said the council was gathering information but there had not been widespread coastal inundation or “huge damage”.
A national state of emergency was declared at 8.43am for Bay of Plenty, Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay, and later for Tararua.
It is the third time in New Zealand’s history that a national state of emergency has been declared.
At 7.30pm on Monday, Denyer declared a state of emergency for the sub-region, which was superseded by the Bay of Plenty state of emergency announced at 8pm by Bay of Plenty Civil Defence.
The national declaration supersedes both of these. During the cyclone, Metservice recorded the highest gust of wind at 91km/h in Tauranga around 9.10pm.
In 24 hours there was up to 160mm of rainfall in Western Bay and 100m in Rotorua and Eastern Bay.
Around 50 homes were evacuated across Waihi Beach and Athenree, in the west of the region, and Maketu and Little Waihi to the east, said Denyer.
Western Bay of Plenty Mayor James Denyer. Photo / LDR
People used the evacuation centres set up around the region overnight.
Some people were not keen to evacuate and the police needed to be involved, said Denyer.
It was important people took notice of calls to evacuate because emergency services were already dealing with difficult and dangerous situations, he said.
“The last thing we want to do is have to rescue people in even more dangerous situations.”
Tree falls, slips, power outages and coastal flooding were the main issues caused by the cyclone, said Denyer.
Compared to the severe weather between January 28-30 there had not been the “same level of damage”, he said.
“What’s really caused the issue here has been the storm surge and the extent to which that has flooded some people’s homes.”
Denyer did not have a clear idea of how many homes had been affected, but he understood it “wasn’t that many”.
The severe weather in January caused properties to flood, there were around 100 slips and a bridge across a rural road in Te Puke washed away.
Some roads remain closed from slip damage and five families are unable to return to their Tauranga homes after a slip shunted one house into the street and damaged four others.
With high tide just after 2pm on Tuesday, Denyer said there could be more issues.
He advised people to stay out of the water at beaches, streams and rivers.
“The key thing we want our community to do at this point is check on their properties. Check on neighbours and make sure they’re okay, and report slips and tree falls to council.”
People also needed to keep an eye on the information and updates the council was providing, he said.
Tauranga City Council commission chair Anne Tolley said in a statement the council was grateful that things weren’t worse and that their infrastructure held up well.
“Tauranga City has seen multiple situations of fallen trees blocking roads and felling power lines, and crews have been working around the clock to remedy those issues as quickly as possible.
“Our hearts go out to the many people around the country whose homes and properties have been damaged by the cyclone, and in particular to the Fire and Emergency staff in Muriwai who were trapped in a collapsed building this morning.”
Tolley said the declaration of a national state of emergency indicated how serious and widespread this extreme weather event has been for many. Thousands of people were without power and schools around the region closed for the day.
There were 75 schools and kura closed in the Bay of Plenty, affecting around 25,600 students.
People were advised to check the PowerCo website and Waka Kotahi’s journey planner website for updated information on outages and road closures.
