“Cyclone Gabrielle is the most significant weather event New Zealand has seen in this century,” Chris Hipkins said in a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
“The severity and the damage that we are seeing has not been experienced in a generation.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, around 2500 people have been displaced by the storm, although Hipkins said conditions are expected to ease overnight and on Wednesday.
“The centre of the cyclone is just north of the East Cape. It’s moving in a south-easterly direction away from the country,” Hipkins said.
Hipkins’ address came after a national state of emergency was declared in New Zealand by Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty, just the third time a NZ government has declared a national state of emergency.
The previous declarations came for the Christchurch earthquakes and COVID-19 pandemic.
McAnulty hosted a press conference at the Beehive, NZ’s parliament building, on Tuesday morning.
He said the declaration would apply to the six regions that had declared a local state of emergency: Northland, Auckland, Tairāwhiti, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, and Hawke’s Bay.
“The local leadership, CDEM groups, and emergency responders in all of the affected areas have been doing an outstanding job, but the widespread damage caused by this cyclone means we need a national declaration to support them,” he said.
“A National State of Emergency gives the National Controller legal authority to apply resources across the country in support of a national level response.”
Monday night saw widespread damage across the North Island as Cyclone Gabrielle moved closer.
A landslide trapped two firefighters overnight in Muriwai, West Auckland, one was rescued and was in a critical condition in hospital this morning, while another remained unaccounted for.
The East Coast and Gisborne were cut off entirely.
Power, road, rail, cellphone and Internet connections were cut to Gisborne, hampering emergency responses in the east coast city.
Firefighter trapped in Auckland landslide as cyclone wreaks havoc
In Hawke’s Bay, Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise reported all of Napier and Hastings were without power today.
Multiple people were also trapped in flooded houses and on cars along State Highway 5, in Eskdale Valley, Hastings, according to the Fire Service.