NZ declares emergency as Cyclone Gabrielle eases

Wellington: The New Zealand government declared a national state of emergency Tuesday after Cyclone Gabrielle battered the country’s north, leaving widespread flooding and destruction. A firefighter was missing and another was rescued with critical injuries after they were caught in a landslide overnight near the country’s largest city, Auckland, local media reported.

Auckland was swamped two weeks ago by a record-breaking storm that killed four people.

The national emergency declaration enables the government to support affected regions and provide additional resources, Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty said. The country was lashed by intense rainfall overnight that forced evacuations and brought widespread flooding, road closures and power outages to more than 60,000 homes. “This is a significant disaster with a real threat to the lives of New Zealanders,” McAnulty told reporters in the capital Wellington. The national state of emergency includes six regions where local emergencies had already been declared. They are Auckland, as well as the regions of Northland, Tairawhiti, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Hawke’s Bay.