WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand authorities expect to make the final rescues Wednesday after a cyclone brought extensive flooding and landslides that claimed at least four lives.
Cyclone Gabrielle struck the country’s north on Monday and has brought more destruction to this nation of five million than any weather event in decades.
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. All four fatalities occurred near the same North Island east coast bay.
The body of a volunteer firefighter was retrieved on Wednesday from a landslide that destroyed a flooded house near Auckland, a police statement said. Another firefighter was critically injured by the same landslide on Monday night.
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 1,442 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.
Around 144,000 properties on the North Island were without power on Wednesday, down from 225,000 on Tuesday, The New Zealand Herald reported.(AP)