New Zealand: Cyclone Gabrielle death toll rises to 11 as police fear more to come

The death toll from Cyclone Gabrielle in New Zealand climbed to 11 as many people not yet contacted a week later.

The cyclone hit the North Island’s uppermost region on 12 February and tracked down the east coast, inflicting widespread devastation. The prime minister, Chris Hipkins, has called Gabrielle New Zealand’s biggest natural disaster this century.

Police said on Sunday that two more people had died in the hard-hit Hawke’s Bay area in circumstances related to the cyclone, raising the death toll to 11.

More than 5,600 people remained uncontactable across the country, while 1,196 had registered they were safe, police said.

Authorities have previously said they have grave fears for a small number, about 10, of those still missing.

With emergency services stretched, residents were banding together to clean up and guard against looters.

Recovery efforts continued, with teams from Auckland council carrying out rapid building assessments on damaged homes in the coastal areas of Muriwai and Piha, about 60km west of Auckland.

Emergency authorities and military on Saturday dropped critical supplies via helicopter to communities stranded since the cyclone, which washed away farms, bridges and livestock and inundated homes.

About 62,000 households were without power nationwide on Saturday. Of those, almost 40,000 were in Hawke’s Bay, out of a population of about 170,000.

Hipkins has said the crisis response is “still under way” and that people across the North Island are “working around the clock.”

Police sent an extra 100 officers to Hawke’s Bay and nearby Tairawhiti, including to isolated areas, and local media reported roadblocks around a rural Hawke’s Bay village to deter looters. “Targeting people in a crisis is abhorrent and we’re not tolerating it,” said Supt Jeanette Park.