A child has died after being caught in rising floodwaters and three other lives have been lost as Cyclone Gabrielle wreaks unprecedented havoc in New Zealand.
Police said at least four people had been confirmed killed by the storm, including a child caught in rising water on Tuesday at Eskdale on Hawke's Bay.
One of these people was firefighter Dave van Zwanenberg who had been missing since a landslip on Monday night toppled houses in Muriwai on Auckland's west coast.
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"This morning, our team, working alongside police, located a body in the area where they were searching. We have not yet identified who this is and will be working with police to retrieve and identify the body," Fire and Emergency chief executive Kerry Gregory said.
Van Zwanenberg is a vet, pilot and father of two young children.
Another firefighter critically injured in the slip has been named as Craig Stevens, who has been a volunteer firefighter for the Muriwai brigade since 2018.
A woman was also killed by a landslide at Putorino and a body was found on a shore at Napier on Tuesday, police said.
Police said 1442 people had been reported uncontactable in the North Island by Wednesday afternoon. The large number could be explained by widespread disruptions to telecommunications and power.
"There are 111 reports of people now safe," police said, while some were also duplicate reports of the same person, reported unreachable by different people.
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However, police had "grave concerns" for several people they confirmed were missing from the Eastern District – Hawke's Bay and Tairāwhiti.
Police urged anyone concerned about friends and family to try their usual methods of communication first, whether that's a phone number, email, social media or a pre-planned emergency meeting place.
Around 144,000 properties on the North Island were without power on Wednesday, down from 225,000 on Tuesday, The New Zealand Herald reported.
A weather station in the Hawke's Bay and Napier region recorded three times more rain over Monday night than usually falls for the entire month of February, authorities said.
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More than 300 people were rescued Tuesday from that same flooded bay area, including 60 stranded on a single roof, Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty said. Helicopters would help make the final 25 rescues of individuals and family groups on Wednesday.
"Our emergency services are still carrying out rescues and land searches in a number of places," McAnulty told reporters.
British King Charles III's sister, Princess Anne, visited New Zealand's disaster management headquarters in the capital, Wellington, on Wednesday and praised the nation's response. Her visit to New Zealand was scheduled before the cyclone struck.
"My thoughts are with all New Zealanders whose homes or livelihoods have been affected by Cyclone Gabrielle," she said in a statement.
"I admire the courage of the people of Aotearoa during this alarming and difficult time," she said, using the country's Māori-language name.
"You should all be proud of the resilience, strength and care for your communities you are showing in the face of adversity," she added.
'Similar feel to the Christchurch Earthquake', defence commander says
Joint Forces commander Rear Admiral Jim Gilmour said HMNZS Manawanui would arrive in Gisborne harbour late Thursday morning with food and water, and a communications line would be set up in the town as satellite phones being used by responders were running out of battery power.
Gilmour said the response had a "similar feel to the Christchurch Earthquake in terms of scale", due to the "breadth of challenges" faced.
He was the commander of HMNZS Canterbury which was in Lyttleton Habour when the 2011 earthquake struck.
"There is a real challenge just to understand what needs to happen, and in what order," he said.
"I would not be surprised if the state of emergency gets extended next week, just as we learn more."
Not the first emergency event of 2023
Last month Auckland and surrounding areas were hit by record rainfall that sparked floods and killed four people.
Hipkins said British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had phoned offering his country's support and assistance.
The Australian government also said it was ready to provide support where and if needed, Hipkins said.
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This latest disaster is the third national state of emergency after the 2011 Christchurch earthquake and COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and is due to a weather system off the country's north that is tracking south and east along the coast.
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.
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