New Zealand seeks international help as Cyclone Gabrielle cripples North Island

• New Zealand started accepting international aid.
• Cyclone Gabrielle has caused a catastrophe in New Zealand.
• The New Zealand Defense Force has sent out two naval boats and a C-130 Hercules.

As exhausted officials accepted aid from abroad, New Zealand on Thursday sent gunships and helicopters to bring water, food, and fuel to communities cut off by Cyclone Gabrielle.

In a catastrophe that has devastated the populated North Island of the country, five people have perished, 100 are missing, and 10,000 more have been forced to flee their homes.

Violent winds and heavy rains over four days produced landslides and widespread flooding that destroyed the island’s road system, brought on rolling power outages, and destroyed hundreds of cell towers.

Following the discovery of damage to the final functional bridge connecting Napier, a city on New Zealand’s east coast, and its 65,000 inhabitants with the rest of the nation, the city was once more cut off on Thursday.

Residents in remote areas have been advised to limit their water use and not leave their houses unless “absolutely essential”.

When inhabitants do venture outside, they scramble through murky floodwaters to collect supplies or congregate on the steps of a few buildings that still have wifi in an effort to contact loved ones.

Petrol stations all throughout the city have posted posters stating that there is “NO FUEL” for anyone besides emergency personnel.

Also Read

Cyclone Gabrielle: Flooding forces New Zealanders to swim to safety

Cyclone Gabrielle pounded the country's north. The government declared a nationwide state...

“Bumpy ride”

The power is not anticipated to be restored to some places for weeks, and the clean-up is expected to take even longer, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins warned New Zealanders on Thursday.

“This is a traumatic event,” he said. “It’s a very big challenge to restore infrastructure as fast as we can, but we have to acknowledge that we are in for a bumpy ride.”

“There are no overnight fixes. We could have the bulldozers working 24/7 and it would still take time to re-establish road links.”

Hipkins stated: “We are accepting offers of international assistance” after first rejecting assistance from the United States and other nations.

In order to send thousands of liters of water, together with personnel and several mobile water treatment units, to hard-hit areas, the New Zealand Defense Force has sent out two sizable naval boats and a C-130 Hercules delivery plane.

Hundreds of individuals who were stuck on their rooftops have been rescued by NH90 helicopters and have received supplies.

Although the cyclone itself has since dissipated into the South Pacific, more rain is predicted for Thursday, which will complicate relief efforts and might even cause further landslides.

Estimates of the damage caused and the cost of repairs are scant as authorities continue to struggle with the extent of the storm’s destruction.

“We know it’s going to be in the region of billions, not millions, of dollars,” Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr told AFP.

“I think the figure will be in the range of several billion — five to 10 billion dollars (US$3-6 billion), possibly more.”

Also Read

New Zealand announces a national state of emergency due to Cyclone Gabrielle

The destruction caused by Cyclone Gabrielle, according to the prime minister of...