By Agence France-Presse
SAVE ME A helicopter locates a catamaran in distress, with a single sailor on board, near the city of Whangarei, Northland region, northern New Zealand on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023. NEW ZEALAND DEFENSE FORCE PHOTO VIA AFP
AUCKLAND, New Zealand: Cyclone "Gabrielle" swept away roads, inundated homes and left 225,000 people without power in New Zealand on Tuesday, prompting the government to declare a national state of emergency.
High winds and driving rain lashed the country's populous North Island, in what Prime Minister Chris Hipkins called the "most significant weather event New Zealand has seen in this century."
"The impact is significant and it is widespread," he said. "The severity and the damage that we are seeing has not been experienced in a generation."
Daylight on Tuesday revealed the severity of the disaster: roads eaten away by landslips and collapsed homes buried in mud, silt and a slew of storm detritus.
Falling trees smashed power lines and floodwaters blocked several major roads, leaving communities stranded.
Local media reported that some people were forced to swim from their homes to safety. Others waded through stormwaters on foot. Some were forced to shelter in place.
"During the night a huge tree came down in front of our house, just missing my Ute. It blocked the road and we couldn't get out," 53-year-old Whangamata resident Brendon Pugh told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"It's been scary. I am an ex-coast guard, but I have never seen anything like it in 20 years living here," he said.
"The water in our road was up to my shins, then waist-deep in places. We were without power from 10 p.m. last night until about 3 p.m. today and we had no internet," he added.
