Floods, power outages and hundreds evacuated as Cyclone Vaianu lashes New Zealand’s North Island | New Zealand
Cyclone Vaianu made landfall on New Zealand’s North Island on Sunday, causing floods, power outages and forcing hundreds of people to evacuate.
National weather provider MetService described Vaianu as a “life-threatening” system, saying the cyclone crossed the coast near the Maketu peninsula, packing devastating winds of more than 130 km per hour (80 mph), heavy rains and large waves.
Authorities have placed many areas under emergency declarations and issued “red” level wind warnings for only the most extreme weather events.
Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell said the cyclone was moving towards the borders of the North Island, saving Auckland, the country’s most populous city, from the worst conditions. However, stronger winds and waves were still expected after landfall in the afternoon.
“It’s moved more to the edges and more to the east, which means we’re not seeing quite the intensity that we were prepared for or thought we were going to be hit with. That’s good news,” Mitchell said.
“Over the next 12 hours we’ll see some more intensification as the hurricane begins to move down and approach.”
Mitchell warned that the combination of afternoon high tide and large waves from the storm could trigger coastal flooding.
“The time of concern is from 14:00 (0800 GMT) this afternoon, when there are high tides with large waves,” he said.
The hurricane forced hundreds of residents to evacuate and 5,000 homes lost power, while power was restored to about 2,000.
Authorities in the coastal Whakatane District reported significant damage during Vaianu’s passage and mandatory evacuations were carried out at 270 properties.
Members of the New Zealand defense force and heavy equipment were also deployed to assist with evacuations.
MetService recorded winds of 130 km/h in some areas, 24-hour rainfall totals in Whangarei city of more than 100 mm (4 inches) and wave heights exceeding 6 m (20 feet).
Air New Zealand said in a statement that it had canceled more than 90 turboprop flights, primarily to regional North Island airports.
“Although there have been some delays due to weather conditions, domestic jet and international flights are operating as planned,” the airline said.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand said it responded to more than 100 calls for assistance regarding wind damage and surface flooding.
MetService said conditions would ease as Vaianu moved towards the North Island before leaving Hawke’s Bay on Sunday evening.
“Things are looking up tonight and into tomorrow, but right now this is still a life-threatening weather system,” MetService weather news head Heather Keats said.
Vaianu brought back memories of 2023’s Cyclone Gabrielle, which killed 11 people and displaced thousands in one of New Zealand’s worst natural disasters this century.
