* Cyclone Gabrielle: Follow our live updates
* Cyclone Gabrielle: All you need to know today
* Cyclone Gabrielle: When will the bad weather end in your region?
Auckland’s Waiheke Island is cut off after all ferry services were suspended.
Cyclone Gabrielle: Waiheke Island cut off after ferry terminal loses power, slips block roads
NZ Herald
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Fullers360 advised that all Waiheke Island services are on hold until further notice.
Slips at Matiatia have caused road closures and there is no power at the Matiatia Ferry Terminal, Fullers said on its website.
Emergency services are working to resolve the issue and ferry services will be reinstated once Fullers has been given the all-clear from local authorities, it said.
Auckland Transport said other Auckland ferry service cancellations include the Auckland to Bayswater and Bayswater to Northcote Point-Birkenhead voyages.
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UPDATE 12:10
— Auckland Transport Travel Alerts (@AT_TravelAlerts) February 13, 2023
The following ferry services have been cancelled:
Auckland to Waiheke 12:00
Waiheke to Auckland 13:00
Auckland to Bayswater 14:10, 20:10, 22:10
Bayswater to Northcote Point - Birkenhead 14:20, 20:20, 22:20
Birkenhead to Auckland 14:35, 20:35, 22:35 https://t.co/A6ErVGMi5K
A national state of emergency has been declared as residents and emergency services work amid the destruction caused by Cyclone Gabrielle.
It applies to Northland, Auckland, Tairāwhiti, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Hawke’s Bay, which had already declared local states of emergency.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the cyclone had caused “extensive damage across the country”.
At first light, advice was provided to the Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty. Hipkins that a state of emergency should be declared “and we acted immediately”.
“This is only the third time in New Zealand history that a National State of Emergency has been declared,” McAnulty said.
“This is an unprecedented weather event that is having major impacts across much of the North Island.”
The heavy rain is behind Auckland - but the wind is expected to keep belting parts of the region until midnight. A red strong wind warning is in place and other regions were facing further deluges and gales.
“We are not out of the woods yet,” MetService meteorologist Georgina Griffiths said.
Trees have come down on homes across Auckland, images of major flooding in the North Island have emerged and several roads in the North Island are closed, including 14 blockages on state highways in Thames-Coromandel - cutting off the peninsula.
