Australia’s Norfolk Island gets ready for Cyclone Gabrielle impact

• Cyclone Gabrielle was expected to pass over or relatively close to Norfolk Island.
• 2,000 residents have been refueling emergency generators and moving furniture.
• Four people were killed by extensive floods in the areas of the North Island and Auckland.

On Saturday, as Cyclone Gabrielle continued on her path towards the tiny overseas territory in the Pacific Ocean, it brought devastating winds to Australia’s Norfolk Island. Cyclone Gabrielle was en route to New Zealand.

Early on Saturday, Australia’s meteorological agency reported that Gabrielle, a Category 2 tropical cyclone with winds of up to 155 kph (96 mph), was 325 km (miles) northwest of Norfolk Island, where conditions were deteriorating.

The cyclone’s center was expected to pass over or relatively close to Norfolk Island, an Australian territory located 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) to the east of Sydney, on Saturday evening.

Over 34 square kilometers (13 square miles) or 13 square miles of the island are located in the Pacific Ocean between New Caledonia and New Zealand.

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In preparation for the cyclone, about 2,000 residents—some descended from British sailors who mutinied on the HMS Bounty in the 18th century—have been refueling emergency generators and securing outside furniture and other items.

“Gale-force winds and high waves are currently developing and conditions are expected to worsen throughout the day as the center of the cyclone approaches this evening,” the Bureau of Meteorology said.

Additionally, it warned that the weather system would bring unusually high tides, very severe surf, and heavy rain, all of which might result in coastal erosion and localized damage.

Norfolk Island Administrator Eric Hutchinson told the local channel television that “The community is doing the right thing and we’re in as good a place as we can be.”

The cyclone is not anticipated to affect Australia’s mainland, but several North Island regions, including Auckland, the nation’s largest metropolis, have been prepared for it to cause catastrophic weather.

MetService, the nation’s weather service, predicted that Gabrielle would proceed near New Zealand in the next few days.

“We expect to see impacts from this cyclone from Sunday starting in the north and spreading south to other parts of northern and central New Zealand,” the forecaster said on Saturday.

Four people were killed by extensive floods and unprecedented rainfall that pounded areas of the North Island and Auckland last month.

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