On Sunday, a week after Cyclone Gabrielle devastated New Zealand’s North Island, the death toll from the storm reached 11, with thousands of people still missing.
On February 12, a cyclone struck the northernmost part of the island before moving down the east coast and wreaking havoc. The largest natural disaster to hit New Zealand in the last century, according to Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, is Gabrielle.
Police reported that two more people had perished on Sunday in the severely damaged Hawke’s Bay due to cyclone-related causes.
Hipkins told reporters that additional fatalities were possible and that 3,216 people had been deemed safe, while authorities were still attempting to contact more than 3,000 others.
Life had been ‘turned upside down’ by the disaster, and recovery remained ‘a steep mountain ahead,’ he said, citing the damaged roads, limited access to some areas, and disrupted telecommunications.
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