Severe weather warnings are set to come into place this weekend as Cyclone Vaianu bears down on New Zealand.

Coromandel and parts of the Bay of Plenty are expected to be the worst-affected, though no part of the North Island will escape unscathed, forecasters warn.

A state of emergency has been declared for Northland as at 5pm, for an initial period of seven days, as part of the regional response.

• READ MORE: Tropical Storm Sinlaku strengthens, could hit CNMI as typhoon by Monday
• Other Pacific wild weather reports

The first warnings will be in effect from late Saturday night in Northland, before Vaianu makes its way south.

Most of the rain and winds will hit on Sunday, reaching the upper South Island by early afternoon.

The Ocean Declaration that will be agreed upon at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) this week will be known as the Apia Ocean Declaration.

In an exclusive interview with the Samoa Observer, Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland said members were in a unique position to bring their voices together for the oceans, which have long been neglected.

“The Apia Ocean Declaration aims to address the rising threats to our ocean faces, especially from climate change and rising sea levels,” she said.

• READ MORE: Other CHOGM reports, October 21-26

Commonwealth pushes for ocean protection with historic Apia Ocean Declaration. Video: Samoa Observer

Scotland, reflecting on her tenure as Secretary-General, noted the privilege of serving the Commonwealth, a diverse family of 56 countries comprising 2.7 billion people.

“I am very much the child of the Commonwealth. With 60 percent of our population under 30 years, we must prioritise their future.”

Scotland reflected that upon assuming her role, she recognised immediately that addressing climate change would be a key priority for the Commonwealth.

“Why? Because we have 33 small states, 25 small island states and we were the ones who were really suffering this badly,” she said.

Pacific a ‘big blue ocean state’
“We also knew in 2016 that nobody was looking at the oceans. Now, the Pacific is a big blue ocean state.

“But it’s one of the most under-resourced elements that we have. And yet, look at what was happening. The hurricanes and the cyclones were getting bigger and bigger.

“Why? Because our ocean had absorbed so much of the heat, so much of the carbon, and now it was starting to become saturated. So before, our ocean acted as a coolant. The cyclone would come, the hurricane would come, they’d pass over our cool blue water, and the heat would be drawn out.”

The Apia Ocean Declaration emerged from a pressing need to protect the oceans, especially given the devastating impact of climate change on coastal and island nations.

“We realised that while many discussions were happening globally, the oceans were often overlooked,” Scotland remarked.

“In 2016, we recognised the necessity for collective action. Our oceans absorb much of the carbon and heat, leading to increasingly severe hurricanes and cyclones.”

Scotland has spearheaded initiatives that brought together oceanographers, climatologists, and various stakeholders.

Worked in silos ‘for too long’
“We worked in silos for too long. It was time to unite our efforts for the ocean’s health.

“That’s when we realised that nobody had their eye on our oceans, but of the 56 Commonwealth members, many of us are island states, so our whole life is dependent on our ocean. And so that’s when the fight back happened.”

This collaboration resulted in the establishment of the Commonwealth Blue Charter, a significant framework focused on ocean conservation.

“Fiji’s presidency at the UN Oceans Conference was a turning point. Critics said it would take years to establish an ocean instrument, but we achieved it in less than ten months.”

“We are not just talking; we are implementing solutions.”

Scotland also addressed the financial challenges faced by many small island states, particularly regarding climate funding.

“In 2009, $100 billion was promised by those who had been primarily responsible for the climate crisis, to help those of us who contributed almost nothing to get over the hump.

Hard for finance applications
“But the money wasn’t coming. And in those days, many of our members found it so hard to put those applications together.”

To combat this issue, the Commonwealth established a Climate Finance Access Hub, facilitating over $365 million in funding for member states with another $500 million in the pipeline.

“But this has caused us to say we have to go further,” she added.

“We’re using geospatial data, we have to fill in the gaps for our members who don’t have the data, so we can look at what has happened in the past, what may happen in the future, and now we have AI to help us do the simulators.

“The Ocean Ministers’ Conference highlighted the importance of ensuring that countries at risk of disappearing under the waves can maintain their maritime jurisdiction,” Scotland asserted.

“The thing that we thought was so important is that those countries threatened with the rising of the sea, which could take away their whole island, don’t have certainty in terms of that jurisdiction. What will happen if our islands drop below the sea level?

“And we wanted our member states to be confident that if they had settled their marine boundaries, that jurisdiction would be set in perpetuity. Because that was the biggest guarantee; I may lose my land, but please don’t tell me I’m going to lose my ocean too.

Target an ocean declaration
“So that was the target for the Ocean Ministers’ Conference. And out of that came the idea that we would have an ocean declaration.

“It is that ocean declaration that we are bringing here to Samoa. And the whole poignancy of that is Samoa is the first small island state in the Pacific ever to host CHOGM. So wouldn’t it be beautiful if out of this big blue ocean state, this wonderful Pacific state, we could get an ocean declaration which could in the future be able to be known as the Apia Ocean Declaration? Because we would really mark what we’re doing here.

“What the Commonwealth has been determined to do throughout this whole period is not just talk, but take positive action to help our members not only just to survive, but to thrive.

“And if, which I hope we will, we get an agreement from our 56 states on this ocean declaration, it enables us to put the evidence before everyone, not only to secure what we need, but then to say 0.05 percent of the money is not enough to save our oceans.

“Oceans are the most underfunded area.

“I hope that all the work we’ve done on the Universal Vulnerability Index, on the nature of the vulnerability for our members, will be able to justify proper money, proper resources being put in.

“And you know what’s happening in this area; our fishermen are under threat.

“Our ability to use the oceans in the way we’ve used for millennia to feed our people, support our people, is really under threat. So this CHOGM is our fight back.”

As the meeting progresses, the emphasis remains on achieving consensus among the 56 member states regarding the Apia Ocean Declaration.

Republished from the Samoa Observer with permission.

Communities in Vanuatu continue to rely on government for basic necessities and still lack access to clean water sources almost a month after severe tropical cyclones Judy and Kevin made landfall.

Sisead village community council chairman Paul Fred in Port Vila lives in one of the many homes in which residents do not have water seeping into the house because of a tarpaulin handed out in aid that lines his corrugated tin roof.

“To accept two cyclones within a week, it’s unexplainable. We’ve never experienced two cyclones like this one,” Fred told RNZ Pacific.

• READ MORE: Other Vanuatu cyclone reports

“But it’s a good experience for the generations of today, it comes to remind them that we have to prepare.”

His village is one of five in the country requesting financial assistance from the Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau’s government to build houses that are strong enough to withstand the impacts of severe tropical cyclones.

“The government should focus to help ni-Vanuatu people to build cyclone-proof buildings so that when the next cyclone comes we can minimise the need for relief and donations,” he said.

‘It’s up to themselves’
Frederica Atavi is from the same community.

Atavi, who grew up in Australia, said a post-cyclone assessment was still needed to be done in the village.

“It’s nearly a month now and you can see there’s still rubbish on the side of the road,” Atavi said.

“It is slow but that’s probably the island life. It’s slow and steady.”

Like Fred, she wants financial assistance to go towards rebuilding homes for the people in her community.

“The people in Vanuatu don’t have access to financial aid or anything to help them with their structural damage,” she said.

“It’s only the food and the hygiene kits but for structural damage it’s up to them to do it themselves.”

Charlie Willy, also from Sisead, stayed in the village during both the cyclones.

During Kevin, while the older people were moved out of the village for safety, Willy and six others stayed in a concrete bathroom block, so they could nail down roofs in the middle of the storm.

Willy said roofs were still leaking and it was challenging for people to pay for materials to fix homes.

Water source declared unsafe
In the rural village of Pang Pang, about an hour’s drive away from the capital, Serah John, who tends the community’s gardens, said the village had become reliant on food from government aid.

“All the gardens, the fruits and food crops were damaged… bananas and cassava that were uprooted from the strong wind,” John said in bislama.

She said their clean water source had been contaminated by livestock waste after Cyclones Judy and Kelvin and declared not safe for human consumption.

Kalsakau told RNZ Pacific last month that the damage caused by the twin cyclones would cost the country tens of million of dollars.

New Zealand providing help
New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta was in Vanuatu for three days last week and visited both villages.

She announced a $NZ1 million grant to support post-cyclone recovery efforts that would be made available to local non-governmental organisations.

Mahuta also meet with her counterpart Jotham Napat to sign the first-ever cooperation agreement between the two countries.

The deal will see the New Zealand government provide almost $NZ38m as part of its commitment to assist Vanuatu – with the money going towards climate change resilience projects, general budget support, and the tourism sector.

Mahuta said the resilience of the ni-Vanuatu people stood out.

“You can not truly appreciate resilience until you come into communities where there has been absolute devastation,” she said.

“Yet the people still pull together, they still smile, they still have the endurance factors that help them get through, something which I think is probably emotionally and mentally draining,” she said while visiting the Pang Pang community.

“It reinforces why the world needs to take action on climate change because those most vulnerable in the Pacific require us all to do our bit.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Vanuatu is in celebration mode after winning a significant battle on the world stage over climate change.

In a United Nations resolution spearheaded by Vanuatu, the world’s top court will now advise on countries’ legal obligations to fight climate change.

It also means the International Court of Justice can advise on consequences for those countries which do not comply. The resolution was passed overnight on Wednesday.

• READ MORE: UN adopts Vanuatu-led resolution in ‘epic win’ on climate change
• Other Vanuatu climate reports

Vanuatu Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau was ecstatic. He was in New York for the vote.

He called it a “historic resolution” and the beginning of a new era in multilateral climate co-operation.

“I celebrate today with the people of Vanuatu who are still reeling from the devastation from two back-to-back cyclones this month caused by the fossil fuels and greenhouse emissions that they are not responsible for,” he said.

His country is still picking up the pieces from Cyclone Judy and Cyclone Kevin, which struck within a couple of days of each other earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has been in Vanuatu looking at what support New Zealand can give — and ensuring help gets to those who need it.

She has witnessed first-hand the climate challenge that the people are facing. Mahuta said New Zealand had supported Vanuatu’s drive to get the UN resolution across the line.

NZ’s Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta . . . “”We have to acknowledge Vanuatu’s leadership.” Video: 1News

“We have to acknowledge Vanuatu’s leadership,” Mahuta told 1News.

“It’s not really the size of the country, but it’s the size of the vision, and Vanuatu’s voice has clearly put front row centre an aspiration to have the ICJ recognise the impacts of climate change on vulnerable countries.”

Accompanying New Zealand’s delegation is a 10-member Pasifika Medical Association PACMAT team. They will be based at the Aotearoa-funded Mindcare Mental Health facility for the next 28 days helping those traumatised by the two cyclones.

New Zealand has announced $12 million to add to a funding pool for the region to help people get back on their feet quicker after the disaster.

In Vanuatu, New Zealand is offering $18.5 million for a clean drinking water project, $4 million for tourism recovery and $3 million for general budget support.

Barbara Dreaver is 1News Pacific correspondent. Republished with permission.

Vanuatu’s Minister of Climate Change warns “there’s going to be a lot of hardship” for people waiting for their crops to grow back as dry rations are distributed to communities.

Minister Ralph Regenvanu said the main food push started in the middle of last week, with only a small amount of supplies being handed out in the immediate aftermath of the severe back-to-back cyclones.

He said there had been logistical issues in getting the food distributed, but dry rations should reach everyone in the two worst affected provinces, Shefa and Tafea, by the end of this week.

• READ MORE: As Pacific islanders, we bear the brunt of the climate crisis. The time to end fossil fuel dependence is now
• Some Pacific nations ‘won’t survive’ if NZ and world drop the climate ball
• Port Vila call to phase out fossil fuels
• UN calls for rapid, ambitious action to tackle climate crisis
• IPCC report: world must cut emissions and urgently adapt to climate realities
• The AR6 Synthesis Report: Climate Change 2023

“It’s not really ideal but it’s still within the timeframe we’ve set which is three weeks from the cyclone and those three weeks end about now,” Regenvanu said.

“People are frustrated, they’re waiting for food, some are waiting for shelter and supplies so they can rebuild.

“As with every disaster of this magnitude, there’s a lot of frustration with the ability of the government and other partners to respond in a timely manner, but that’s just issues of capacity within the government and our donor partners.”

Regenvanu said gardens, which were the main source of food for people, had been damaged.

“There’s going to be a lot of hardship while we wait for the gardens to regenerate,” he said.

“The food cluster is also giving out lots of seeds and gardening tools to assist people to start planting which should have started happening immediately after the cyclone.”

Rivers, streams polluted
Soneel Ram from Vanuatu Red Cross said the two most urgent needs were access to shelter and clean drinking water.

“Most of the houses have been damaged and some have been completely destroyed by the strong winds,” Ram said.

“Some have been shoved out to sea as a result of floods.

“Most of the villages rely on rivers and streams as the source of their drinking water; because of the cyclones the debris has actually polluted these water sources.”

He said Vanuatu Red Cross handed out jerry cans for people to store water. The organisation has also raised awareness for safe hygiene practices like boiling water before drinking.

Ram said the subsistence farmers he spoke with were down to their last week or two of food supplies.

Minister Regenvanu said money would be given out alongside food so households could purchase whatever they needed.

Non-government organisations were also providing additional relief, he said.

“So we hope that that will mean nobody’s terribly negatively affected by being hungry.”

Assessment difficult
Regenvanu said the assessment of the damage was quite difficult to do because a lot of communication systems were knocked out.

However, last week most of the assessments had returned.

Regenvanu said not all communication had been restored around the country.

He estimated phone connection was down from a baseline of about 60 to 70 percent to around 50 percent around the country.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Tens of thousands of ni-Vanuatu children could be experiencing “stress and trauma” after the double cyclones that tore through the island nation last week, says an educator.

With widespread damages to infrastructure, many children have lost their homes, had their schools damaged, and neighbourhoods hit hard by tropical cyclones Judy and Kevin.

Port Vila International School teacher Cassidy Jackson-Caroll told RNZ Pacific it was important to prioritise school-aged children’s wellbeing during these times.

• READ MORE: Back-to-back cyclones in Vanuatu – stories of survival in ‘tough go’
• LISTEN TO RNZ MORNING REPORT: Lydia Lewis reporting
• Tropical Cyclone Kevin lashes Port Vila with destructive winds and heavy rain
• Vanuatu residents ‘exhausted’ after two wild cyclones in three days
• PM Kalsakau in cyclone-ravaged Vanuatu declares emergency as new storm bears down
• Other Vanuatu storm reports

Jackson-Caroll said that requires all stakeholders to move quickly and restore a sense of normalcy and enable children to return to school.

“It is quite important [for schools to open],” she said, while noting the large-scale devastation caused by the twin cyclones.

“One thing I thought is the kids want to see their friends. They have spent a lot of time time at home tucked up with their families, which is very important [during cyclones]. But they also need a little relief to see that their friends are okay.”

She said no electricity and no running water is an issue across the country which means schools remain affected.

But she is hoping the situation will improve by next week and those children who can return to school will be able do so.

“I think it is important even if it is half days or two or three days a week for some kids that is enough because some are going to be traumatiSed,” she said, adding Port Vila International School will have a “soft opening” on Wednesday.

“Sometimes they might just need to see their friends and go and play some soccer or just have a hug. They just need to laugh away from the anxiety and stress and trauma that they might have at home,” she added.

Schools, health centres ‘damaged’
UNICEF estimates up to 58,000 children have been impacted and those in the worst affected provinces of Tafea and Shefa needing urgent assistance.

The UN agency’s Pacific representative Jonathan Veitch said “with power still out in many places, and boats and planes grounded or damaged, we still don’t have enough information on the impact of children in the outer islands of Tafea.”

“We know that schools and health centres have been damaged throughout the country.”

“UNICEF Pacific, in partnership with the government, has begun to support the children and families most affected,” he added.

Preliminary reports indicate that almost the entire population has been affected.

World Vision Vanuatu country director Kendra Derouseau said they are expecting similar destruction to Tafea province that occured following Cyclone Pam in 2015.

“We know that most homes will be partly or completely destroyed,” Derouseau said.

Food sources scarce
“The vast majority of the population in Tafea are subsistence agricultural farmers so food sources will be scarce and water sources will be contaminated.”

She confirmed that there were about 2000 people still in evacuation centres on Efate.

“People tend to sleep in the evacuation centres, leave vulnerable individuals and a carer in the centres during the day, and then go back to their homes to try and build and repair and then come back to sleep at night.”

But Derouseau said the number of people in evacuation centres were decreasing as people felt safe to go back to their home.

Meanwhile, New Zealand has sent relief supplies including water containers, kits for temporary shelters, and family hygiene kits and an initial financial contribution of NZ$150,000.

Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta said the government was working closely with Vanuatu to support this response, together with France and Australia.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins’ decision to “reprioritise” future transport budgets — away from walking, cycling and public transport — in order to pay for Cyclone Gabrielle road reconstruction is short-sighted amid the climate crisis, says Greenpeace.

However, Hipkins told RNZ Morning Report today the decision to refocus transport spending would not compromise action on climate change.

“Robbing money from climate mitigation initiatives like walking and cycling, which reduce emissions, in order to fix up climate-related storm damage makes no sense,” said Greenpeace campaigner Christine Rose in a statement.

• READ MORE: Other NZ transport and climate reports

“This shouldn’t be an either-or situation. Yes, we need to get access back for cyclone-hit areas.

“But why would you finance that by cancelling plans for a transport system that cuts climate emissions that otherwise intensify the storms?”

Transport Minister Michael Wood had announced plans to prioritise climate change in the Government Policy Statement review, which sets the high level direction for spending over the next five years.

However, less than a day later, after Monday’s Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Hipkins stepped away from this commitment.

Transport pollution
Hipkins argued that the response to Cyclone Gabrielle required reprioritisation to repair bridges and roads rather than to support public transport, walking and cycling.

Transport is New Zealand’s second biggest climate polluter after the agriculture industry.

“Cyclone Gabrielle was a tragic reminder that the climate crisis is here,” Rose said.

“The government must pull all the stops to prevent storms like this from getting worse in future. And that means putting a brake on climate pollution.

“This is the time the government should instead be accelerating climate solutions like clean transport options. By distancing himself from [former Prime Minister] Jacinda Ardern’s commitment to climate change, Hipkins is aligning himself with reactionary pro-road lobbies.”

The Greenpeace statement said damage to roads, bridges and infrastructure showed how vulnerable the transport network was to climate change. Building more roads was not a long-term solution.

“It’s time to reinvent our transport system so it prioritises people and freight, not cars, and mitigates climate change as well as adapting to the new climate reality,” Rose said.

She said that if Hipkins claimed there was no money to pay for reconstruction — perhaps he should consider the fact that the biggest climate polluter, Fonterra — was paying nothing for its methane emissions.

“If the government doesn’t take the lead during the climate crisis, to allocate spending for climate solutions, then it’s the wrong government for our times.”

Emissions still in the mix, says Hipkins
RNZ News reports that Prime Minister Hipkins said the decision to refocus transport spending would not compromise action on climate change.

Hipkins said that while Cabinet had not considered a final transport policy statement yet, with weather having so much adverse impact on the country over the last month it was essential there needed to be “a weighting” on what the transport priorities needed to be.

He disagreed there was an irony to changing the policy at this time in response to weather disasters that were being blamed on climate change.

The government has hit the brakes on making emissions reductions its top transport priority, saying Cyclone Gabrielle has changed everything.

Under a policy to make emissions reduction the “overarching focus” of its next three-yearly transport plan, the government wanted to reallocate some of the money normally spent on road maintenance — that tallies nearly $2 billion a year — towards bus and bike lanes.

But now the focus has switched to an emergency style plan to repair roads devastated in Cyclone Gabrielle and other recent storms.

Both National and the Greens have criticised the government’s reversal.

National has called it a “chaotic backpedal” while the Green Party has urged the government not to defer climate change spending.

People in Vanuatu remain optimistic about their future after two destructive cyclones in two days left parts of the Pacific nation in ruins.

Authorities are yet to determine the full scale of the damage caused by the back-to-back severe tropical cyclones Judy and Kevin.

But those who had to endure the worst of the natural disasters last week believe demonstrating resilience is their only option.

“To have had two category four cyclones in less than a week is history in itself,” Vanuatu’s only female Member of Parliament, Gloria Julia King, told RNZ Pacific.

“[It’s] something that even the elders in our families haven’t seen before.”

She said her island nation has had its fair share of severe weather events, highlighting the destruction caused by Cyclone Pam in 2015 from which the country has still not fully recovered.

“A lot of our schools are still in makeshift classrooms, [children] still sitting on the floor without desks and chairs.”

Hopeful over challenges
But she is hopeful that the ni-Vanuatu people will get through the challenges in front of them.

“I have seen Vanuatu come back from Pam, I’ve seen Vanuatu come back from Harold, and I am positive Vanuatu will be able to bounce back from Kevin,” King said.

The country was hit by a category 4 TC Judy first on March 3, but just as people started to pick up the pieces, they had to rush to evacuation centres the following day as Kevin arrived as a category 3, intensifying to a category 4 and then reaching 5 over open water.

“People [were] carrying people with disabilities on their back to an evacuation building,” Greenpeace Australia Pacific’s advisor Shiva Gounden, who is in the capital Port Vila, said.

He said three to four families huddled in homes while properties around them were being wiped out.

“Roads are completely blocked or flooded. There’s no access for anyone to leave the village for any type of emergencies.”

‘No power, no water’
“There’s no power. There’s no water,” he added.

Gounden was in a village on Efate island helping people prepare for TC Kevin when it hit with a force much more violent than anyone was prepared for, he told RNZ Pacific.

He had to hold the doors of the house he was residing in for almost 10 hours in shin high water to remain safe.

“It was extremely strong,” he said, describing Kevin’s ferocity.

“I’ve seen and responded to several cyclones in my life and I felt Kevin was as strong as Cyclone Winston which wiped out Fiji.”

“I was trying to hold my door from 5pm till about 3am. I was using all my [strength] with my hands and my back and my legs to try and hold the door because if I didn’t, it would snap. There was water everywhere,” he said.

‘It’s a tough go for many’, says Vanuatu journalist
Vanuatu journalist Dan McGarry, who has been on the frontlines documenting the disaster, visited vulnerable communities in the aftermath.

Taila Moses and her son Tom stand in front of what was once their home of 16 years. Countless houses in informal communities such as hers were damaged or destroyed. Cyclones dole put their damage indiscriminately, but society’s most vulnerable feel it more than anyone else. pic.twitter.com/cXBDuznMTz

— Dan McGarry (@dailypostdan) March 5, 2023

He said people were living in “impromptu housing” in various parts of Port Vila.

“What I found was quite disturbing,” he said.

“It’s becoming obvious that the increasing reliance on a cash economy is creating inequalities in terms of people’s ability to cope with this kind of disaster cycle.”

McGarry said informal settlements up on the hillside in the capital were covered with clothing lines because everything had been soaked.

“There were tarpaulins pulled across roofs to provide some sort of temporary shelter.”

He has spoken with several residents and shared the story of one woman who has lost everything.

“She has no livelihood at the moment because her employer, of course, isn’t calling her into work,” he said.

“She’s lost everything and she is without the means to return it. It’s a tough, tough go for a great many people here in Port Vila,” he explained.

Climate crisis issue
Climate crisis is front of mind for Ni-Vanuatu residents as they start to rebuild.

“[Climate change] turns what used to be sort of periodical issues for Pacific island nations into chronic ones,” he said.

“In this case, we’ve had two severe cyclones in the course of a week an as New Zealanders have seen these weather systems are moving further south.”

He believes development partners of the Pacific cannot afford to walk away; a sentiment echoed by Gounden.

“We have the most resilient people, but there is a deep hurt that is within us,” Gounden said.

He said the “the hurt” stems from fossil fuels being burned across the world which exacerbates climate change.

“The people of the Pacific contribute the least to climate change, yet we face the greatest consequences of it all.”

“The biggest thing we can do is pressure world leaders right now to phase out [the use of fossil fuels.”

Meanwhile, Australia, France and New Zealand have been the first to send support to assist with emergency response.

“We will appreciate any help we can get,” King said.

“The biggest challenge now is just getting power and water back into full circuit around the country.”

Taking off for Vanuatu with assistance following TC Judy & TC Kevin. Australia has a rapid assessment team in Vanuatu & is delivering shelters & other items for communities.

We stand with the Pacific family #YugetaYumiStrong pic.twitter.com/IGYVrchew9

— Pat Conroy MP (@PatConroy1) March 5, 2023

Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest insurer says 20,000 homes across the country are at severe risk of flooding and it is in talks with government about where flood-damaged houses should be written off for good.

IAG is part of an advisory panel that is helping the government with managed retreat legislation.

Those in regions hard hit by Cyclone Gabrielle, who want to walk away from their flood-damaged homes, need answers, among them Peter Johnstone.

• READ MORE: Other Cyclone Gabrielle reports

He stood on the roof of his house the night Pakowhai flooded, and felt creaking and groaning and feared the roof would collapse. Two weeks on, he was shocked to learn the insurer planned to fix his home.

“The people that are there to assess are sort of saying, ‘Oh no, this is rebuild, this is a refix’, refix is the word they’re using,” he said.

“I said, ‘You be kidding me, the whole bloody lot could be condemned, Pakowhai should be condemned’. Every house in Pakowhai is munted.”

He is 75 and together with his wife has lived on the four hectares for three decades.

‘Daunting for me’
“It’s just daunting for me — I’m not scared of hard work but it’s daunting for me. How on earth will I get that place back up?”

They want out and have commissioned an independent engineer to determine if the yellow-stickered home is, in fact, a write-off.

Also in Pakowhai, Keith Gore and his wife live between the two rivers and also want out. An assessor visited this week.

“The assessor is out of Christchurch and he’s been in the game for 43 years,” Gore said.

“He did the Christchurch earthquake, floods at Taeri, floods at Greymouth and one other, and when he walked in our house he said: ‘This is the worst I’ve ever seen’.”

He was not impressed that the insurer wanted to scope costs to rebuild the silt-ridden house.

RNZ talked to three different councils in the East Coast — none would say which areas should be vacated for good.

Quick decisions needed
Minister of Finance Grant Robertson said on Sunday decisions need to be made quickly on whether some places should be rebuilt the way they were — before money and resources were wasted in areas that would need to be abandoned.

IAG chief executive Amanda Whiting said the insurer had maps of areas at high risk of flooding, and was sharing these with officials.

“They vary and we’ve got to do a bit more mapping yet because we’ll have to agree on the parameters that deem those high flood risk zones. But we do have a lot of that mapping available and we’ll share that with government and other stakeholders,” she said.

IAG’s modelling shows 1 percent of homes — around 20,000 around the country — are at risk of severe flooding.

Until there was certainty over areas for managed retreat, Whiting said homeowners caught in limbo should let their insurer know if they want to relocate.

“Talk to us. As we start to get a bit of a sense of those people who are wanting to retreat that will help us with the government on a plan.”

In central Hawke’s Bay, around 200 homes flooded in Waipawa on the night of the cyclone.

Bryce Fergusson was among locals who ran to safety when the river’s stopbank overflowed. Even so, he wanted to rebuild.

“I’m pretty sure it’ll be in hot demand living up on the hill now but we love our land. We’re really hoping this is a once in a lifetime experience.”

Central Hawke’s Bay mayor Alex Walker said there was no urgency to relocate entire communities in Waipawa.

“There’s not a clear locality within central Hawke’s Bay district where we would be talking about urgent withdrawal of property but there might be some isolated pockets of one or two properties where there is a requirement for that conversation about where and how people may rebuild.”

Hastings mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said residents were already making decisions about whether to stay or go, and needed certainty — especially those in 680 yellow-stickered homes.

“We pretty quickly need to sit down with our affected communities, government, insurance council and banks and work out what this process will look like to give them some certainty about next steps and a timeframe.”

Up the coast, Gisborne District Council chief executive Nedine Thatcher Swann said it would likely to take time, and Māori landowners needed to be consulted.

“We’re talking about people who are deeply ingrained, who have whakapapa here.

“So it’s not a matter of simply, you know, redesigning and rebuilding and relocating. It’s a long journey that we need to work closely with our hapū and iwi on.”

For those in limbo like Peter Johnstone, it was a waiting game.

“I’m really worried about what’s around the corner, what do we accept. The government should be saying this is worse than an insurance problem, this is a major and we don’t want that little town to be there any longer.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

A number of ni-Vanuatu Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) workers have also been impacted on by New Zealand’s Cyclone Gabrielle devastation, particularly those in the Hawke’s Bay region.

This has been a difficult time for people in Aotearoa New Zealand, but also for families of workers back in Vanuatu trying to understand what is happening.

Labour Commissioner Murielle Meltenoven and the New Zealand High Commission in Port Vila have assured everyone that all RSE workers in New Zealand are accounted for and safe — and that their welfare is a priority for the Vanuatu and New Zealand governments.

• READ MORE: Other Cyclone Gabrielle reports

New Zealand government authorities, RSE employers, Vanuatu’s liaison officer, NGOs, churches and communities are working together to support affected workers.

The Pasifika Medical Association, a group of trained Pasifika health workers, is on the ground in Hawke’s Bay providing free health services to affected RSE workers.

Where worker accommodation was impacted, RSE workers have been supported in emergency response locations, often community halls or churches, together with other RSE workers.

All ni-Vanuatu RSE workers have now been able to return to their farms or to other suitable, approved, accommodation.

Employer obligations remain
Despite a small number of RSE workers not being able to work, obligations on RSE employers to support RSE workers remain.

This includes paying workers a minimum of 30 hours work a week at NZ$22.10 an hour and providing pastoral care.

The work of some RSE farms will be impacted on by the cyclone’s damage. Workers are able to work on their farms assisting with clean-up if needed, others will be doing their normal harvest work.

New Zealand officials are working to provide flexibility to enable RSE workers who were due to travel to affected areas or that need to be relocated to other parts of New Zealand.

Workers can also choose to return to Vanuatu if they decide they want to return early. It is important for workers to understand that they have a choice in any changes.

The Labour Commissioner explained that the Department of Labour (DoL) is working closely with the New Zealand government to monitor mobilisation of RSE workers into affected regions and assess whether workers need redeploying to other regions.

“I appeal to licensed agents sending workers to affected regions to work in partnership with the Labour Department and ensure mobilisations only go ahead when there is confirmation that approved employers can ensure enough work and safe accommodation for RSE workers,” Commissioner Meltenoven said.

Working closely with NZ
She sympathised with all RSE workers in this difficult time and has assured them that her office will work closely with the New Zealand government in ensuring that their welfare is prioritised and looked after.

Vanuatu’s country liaison officer, Olivia Johnson, is on the ground supporting RSE workers.

She is visiting them at their accommodation and working with Immigration New Zealand and the Labour Inspectorate to ensure safe conditions for workers.

“The devastation is extensive, and we had some workers evacuated out of their accommodation to safety. All are accounted for, and all are safe and well,” Johnson said.

“Our workers who needed to be housed in evacuation centers have been incredibly well cared for — while I was visiting one group at the Ascende Church in Hastings one evening a school out of Wellington had driven up to supply donations.

“The community support to all RSE workers has been humbling. My heart now goes out to the employers, some of whom have lost everything — this is also hard on our workers as most are like family and just want to stay, help and rebuild.”

Tragic, difficult time
Speaking about the devastation of the last few weeks with 11 deaths from the cyclone, New Zealand High Commissioner Nicola Simmonds said this had been a tragic, difficult and anxious time for many New Zealanders and RSE workers.

“From here in Vanuatu, it is humbling to see the contribution that RSE workers are making to support New Zealand at this time,” she said.

“Ni-Vanuatu know more than most about the devastating consequences of cyclones. But they also know how to respond, rebuild and support each other during such times.

“Many workers have been a huge practical help, but also a source of resilience and inspiration for New Zealanders. I humbly thank those ni-Vanuatu supporting New Zealand at this time.”

Workers who have concerns about their situation can reach out to the Department of Labour and Employment Services to raise their concerns and get an update on the welfare support that RSE workers are accessing in the affected region.

Republished with permission.

New Zealand police report that the number of people cited as uncontactable following Cyclone Gabrielle has dropped to eight — down from 13 on Friday night.

Some of those were people who, “for a variety of reasons, do not engage with authorities”, police said in a statement.

However, getting in touch with them remained a priority and all avenues were being explored to try and locate them.

• READ MORE: Claims and counter-claims on post-cyclone crime spike — Mediawatch
• Other Cyclone Gabrielle reports

Thousands had been reported as uncontactable after the cyclone caused widespread destruction across the North Island.

Monitoring crimes in storm-hit communities
Police said that in the 24 hours to 7pm on Saturday, 534 prevention activities had been carried out in the Eastern District, including reassurance patrols and proactive engagements with storm-hit communities.

Twenty-four people had been arrested for a variety of offences, including burglary, car theft, serious assault, and disorder.

Fourteen of the arrests were in Hawke’s Bay, police said, and 10 were in Tai Rāwhiti.

An investigation into an incident in which a police patrol car was damaged in Wairoa around 10.30pm last night was ongoing.

Police said a headlight on the patrol car was damaged after they responded to a breach of the peace in Churchill Avenue.

Three people were arrested when they attempted to leave the address and a firearm was seized, police said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

New Zealand civil defence staff have sent out text alerts to residents in North and West Auckland today to avoid unecessary travel as thunderstorms brought localised downpours.

Those in Rodney, Helensville, Upper Harbour, Te Atatu and Henderson Valley received an emergency alert on their mobiles this evening as the rain has increased the risk of landsliding and flooding.

Bethells Beach, Piha, Karekare and Muriwai, which have been cut off since Cyclone Gabrielle, have also received the the mobile alert.

• READ MORE: Cyclone Gabrielle: New weather warnings for flood-hit NZ regions
• Follow RNZ live news blog

Areas north of Auckland were hit by the sudden torrential downpour this afternoon causing slips, road closures and surface flooding in towns including Mangawhai, Wellsford and Te Arai.

The intersection of State Highway 1 and Mangawhai Road is closed, say police.

Motorists are able to continue north on State Highway 1, but cannot access Mangawhai Road.

Police said there were slips in north-west Auckland, especially in Mangawhai.

Meanwhile, heavy rain warnings remained in place for Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne and the Coromandel — all regions devastated by last week’s cyclone — as they braced for more downpours this weekend.

Metservice said the heaviest rain for Hawke’s Bay would be during Saturday morning with the risk of thunderstorms.

An evacuation order has been issued for people in the Esk Valley ahead of the heavy rain. It took effect from 1.30pm today.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

New Zealand’s MetService has issued an orange warning meaning heavy rain is on the way for cyclone-hit Hawke’s Bay.

From now through until 10am on Saturday people in the region can expect 150 to 200mm of rain about the ranges and also away from the ranges north of Hastings (this includes the Esk Valley area and the Wairoa District), and 75mm to 100mm elsewhere.

The heaviest falls are likely from 3pm on Friday, with peak rates of 20 to 30mm/hr possible.

• READ MORE: Cyclone Gabrielle: Time to invest in natives in response to devastating pine consequences
• Cyclone Gabrielle: Hundreds more NZ unaccounted for now located
• Other Cyclone Gabrielle reports
• Follow RNZ News live news blog

Other areas are under a heavy rain watch and thunderstorms are possible in Coromandel Peninsula and Bay of Plenty about and west of Te Puke from 2am on Friday until 1am Saturday.

Gisborne could expect periods of heavy rain, with thunderstorms possible in the 36 hours from 2pm today. Rainfall amounts may approach warning criteria, MetService said.

Auckland could also expect to be drenched tomorrow with some heavy rain and possible thunderstorms from midday until 10pm.

Meanwhile, as of Wednesday afternoon 346 people remained listed as uncontactable in flood-affected areas.

Police have deployed four specialist victim recovery dog teams to the Eastern District to help in the search.

The death toll remains at 11 — nine people in Hawke’s Bay, and two firefighters in Auckland.

About 700 people displaced by Cyclone Gabrielle across the North Island are still seeking shelter at Civil Defence centres.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

During Cyclones Hale and Gabrielle the poor management of exotic plantations in Aotearoa New Zealand — primarily pine — has again led to extensive damage in Tairāwhiti.

Critical public infrastructure destroyed; highly productive agricultural and horticultural land washed away or buried; houses, fences and sheds knocked over; people’s lives and dreams upended; people dead.

The impacts on natural ecosystems are still unknown, but there will have been extensive damage in terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments. Similar damage occurred during storms in June 2018 and July 2020.

• READ MORE: Cyclone Gabrielle triggers more destructive forestry ‘slash’ — NZ must change how it grows trees
• Global supply chains are devouring what’s left of Earth’s unspoilt forests

While heavy rainfall and flooded rivers are a major factor, it is sediment and slash from plantation harvesting that has been the cause of most of the damage.

Slash is the woody material (including large logs) left after clear-fell harvesting of commercial forests.

Landslides in harvested sites pick up the material and carry it downstream, causing significant damage. All the evidence from Cyclone Gabrielle shows that much of the damage was caused by radiata pine slash.

The legacy of poor land management
Sediment and slash from exotic tree harvesting sites were established as major factors in the damage that occurred during the June 2018 Tolaga Bay storm in recent court cases taken by Gisborne District Council.

Five plantation companies were found guilty and fined for breaching resource consent conditions relating to their management practices.

Multiple groups have called for an inquiry into the way plantation harvest sites are being managed in Tairāwhiti and elsewhere.

But given the severity and ongoing nature of these impacts, is it not time we move beyond focusing on management practices and address the broader underlying issues that have triggered this situation?

These ultimate causes are complex but primarily revolve around historic poor land management decision-making and human-induced climate change.

‘East Coast disaster’: Environmental group calls for inquiry into forestry practices https://t.co/pjTVIiy0Cf pic.twitter.com/MQYkVZCMAY

— nzherald (@nzherald) January 13, 2023

Among the key drivers of the current problems in Tairāwhiti are the large areas of exotic tree plantations that were established with government support after the devastation of Cyclone Bola.

But this devastation also reflects earlier poor land management decisions to clear native forest off steep, erodible hill country in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which was also encouraged by the government of the day.

Looming climate change
The other underlying driver of the disaster is human-induced climate change. Atmospheric CO2 levels are now 150 percent above pre-industrial levels and climates are changing rapidly with new and unprecedented events becoming the norm.

While increasing global temperatures are the most obvious feature of human-induced climate change, it is the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events that are having the biggest impacts on people and the environment.

It is essential that we hold the forestry sector accountable in Tairāwhiti and elsewhere. But we also need to urgently address the underlying causes because no matter how strict harvesting rules are, storm events are going to occur with increasing frequency and intensity.

Time for urgent action
With more than 40 years experience researching forest ecology and sustainable land management in Aotearoa, I believe there are four key areas where we need to urgently act to address these issues.

1. As a country we need to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and rapidly increase the draw-down of CO2 out of the atmosphere. These are national issues and not confined to Tairāwhiti but as a nation we seem to be sleepwalking in our response to the climate emergency.
2. We need a comprehensive catchment-by-catchment assessment across all of Tairāwhiti (and likely other areas of Aotearoa) to identify those plantations that are located in the wrong place in terms of potential harvesting impacts. There should be no further harvesting in Tairāwhiti plantations until this exercise has been completed. We also need to identify those areas that currently lack plantations but should never be planted in exotic tree crops (for any purpose).
3. The government then needs to buy out the current owners of these plantations and embark on a programme of careful conversion to native forest. This will come at a cost, but it needs to be done. We already have models for this in Tairāwhiti where the Gisborne District Council has started converting pine forests in its water supply catchment to native forests.
4. Finally, we need to establish substantially more native forests throughout all Tairāwhiti, and Aotearoa more generally, to help build resilience in our landscapes.

The consequences of short-term thinking
For too long we have been fixated in Aotearoa with maximising short-term returns from exotic tree crops without thinking about long-term consequences. The legacies of this fixation are now really starting to impact us as the climate emergency exposes the risks that poorly sited and managed exotic tree crops pose.

And we are now making the same mistakes with exotic carbon tree crops, again leaving unacceptable legacies for future generations to deal with because of a focus on short-term financial gains.

Exotic tree plantations have dominated forest policy in Aotearoa and we urgently need to shift this to a focus on diverse native forests.

Our native rainforests provide so many benefits that exotic tree crops can never provide.

They are critical for the conservation of our native biodiversity, providing habitat for a myriad of plant, animal, fungal and microbial species. They also regulate local climates, enhance water quality and reduce erosion. This helps sustain healthy freshwater and marine environments.

Native replanting initiatives championed by charities like Pure Advantage need to be the primary focus of forest policy in Aotearoa now and in the future.

Dr David Norton, emeritus professor, University of Canterbury.  This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

A further 300 people listed as “uncontactable” in New Zealand in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle have been found.

About 800 people in Hawke’s Bay and Tai Rāwhiti were still registered as unaccounted for, Hawke’s Bay Urban Search and Rescue team leader Ken Cooper told RNZ Morning Report.

Cooper said police and Fire and Emergency were working closely together and a lot of detective work was going on to establish whether people listed were missing or safe.

• LISTEN TO RNZ MORNING REPORT:  Searching for unaccounted for people in Hawke’s Bay
• Other Cyclone Gabrielle reports

“Where there is a reported missing person and a location of interest, that’s where USAR can take all reasonable steps.

“The challenge we’ve got right now is that we have had people reported as unaccounted for but we haven’t got locations of interest, or we don’t know where they’ve been last reported.”

That left searchers struggling to pinpoint where they should be looking, he said.

“The important thing is, if you have reported someone missing or unaccounted for could you please get in touch with New Zealand police.

“We’d like to have more information so that we can narrow our search down and bring this to a swift conclusion.”

Update police
That included making sure to update police if a person reported missing was found.

USAR had 120 people on the ground, including Australian search teams.

The NZ Defence Force provided at least 40 people a day, there were extra police and Land Search and Rescue personnel.

He said UASR had not encountered this type of terrain before and conditions were extremely difficult for searching.

There were new challenges as the weather improved.

“As the silt and the effluent is drying and people are driving through it and the clear up is really progessing well the dust potentially contains some contaminants and pathogens that are a public health risk.

“That’s a risk to the public and obviously to our rescue workers in the field.”

Cooper said they had covered 2000 properties in a wide area search.

Rescue teams had carried out detailed searches of 600 properties where it was reported someone might be in the house, and had been through a further 620 properties in cases where someone was reported missing.

• The Cyclone Gabrielle death toll remains at 11.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

More than 400 workers from the Pacific evacuated to a Napier church during Cyclone Gabrielle should be able to return to more permanent accommodation in the next few days.

Workers from Samoa, Fiji, Tuvalu and Solomon Islands had stayed at the Samoan Assembly of God church in Napier after being displaced by floodwaters that swept through New Zealand’s North Island towns during the cyclone.

Many were part of the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme.

• READ MORE: Cyclone Gabrielle: Hipkins announces recovery taskforce, $50m support
• Other Cyclone Gabrielle reports

One of them, Taylor Crichton from Samoa, arrived on Thursday after he and 46 others living at Taylor Corporation accommodation in Puketapu ran up a hill on Tuesday morning to escape rising floodwaters.

“At 5am we woke to water pouring in under our beds. We were like, just grab whatever we can and just run.”

Forty-seven of them ran up the hill, where helicopters eventually flew them out five at a time. When the waters receded they were able to go back to their lodgings to get their belongings.

The group had been staying at the church since Thursday and Crichton said it was a relief to finally be able to call loved ones at home.

“We managed to contact our family back home and they were: ‘Where were you guys? And they all think that we lost our lives.”

Many of the workers had harrowing experiences, Samoan Assembly of God church volunteer Fuimaono Nathan Pulega said.

“A lot of them were stuck on roofs, rescued, and then others were stranded for two days and they haven’t eaten, or they were wet,” he said.

“Some were in a real bad bad frame of mind, so all we could do just as soon as they got off the army trucks or the vans was just hug and cry with them.”

Food and supplies had been donated by the workers’ employers, including T&G and Mr Apple, and some had come from further afield.

The Penina Trust in Auckland donated a car load of food and phones. Volunteer Catherine Ioane said supplies included comfort food such as corned beef, noodles and taro.

Most of the workers were to leave yesterday or today as their usual lodgings were cleaned up or more permanent accommodation was arranged.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Finance Minister Grant Robertson have announced a $50 million support package to provide immediate relief for businesses hit by Cyclone Gabrielle, as well as the extension of the national state of emergency, a new cyclone recovery taskforce and related ministerial role.

The full extent of the cyclone damage is becoming clearer as transport, power and telecommunications connections are re-established.

“Ministers will finalise the distribution of this funding in the coming week, but this will include support to businesses to meet immediate costs and further assist with clean-up,” Robertson said today.

• READ MORE: Cyclone Gabrielle: Lives ‘turned upside down . . . destroyed’, says PM
• RNZ photo essay: Cyclone Gabrielle damage becomes increasingly clear
• Cyclone Gabrielle: Death toll rises to 11, Civil Defence targets isolated communities
• Cyclone Gabrielle: Pasifika songs of gratitude ring out across Hawke’s Bay
• Follow RNZ live updates

“We will coordinate the allocation of this funding with local business groups, iwi and local government in the affected regions.

“The government recognises the weather events are having an impact on people and businesses meeting their tax obligations, so we are taking a range of tax relief measures as well.”

Tens of millions of dollars have already been put into cyclone recovery and support, including into Mayoral Relief Funds, Civil Defence payments, and a package for NGOs and community support groups, he said.

“I want to be very clear, this is an interim package and more support will follow as we get a better picture of the scale, cost and needs in the wake of this disaster,” Hipkins said.

Rolling maul approach
“I would note that in responding to previous major disasters a rolling maul approach has had to be taken and this situation is no different.”

The historic shot tower in Aotearoa New Zealand’s Auckland suburb of Mt Eden which caused concern that it could fall during the worst of Cyclone Gabrielle last week will be demolished from tomorrow.

Residents from about 50 housing units surrounding the former Colonial Ammunition Company Shot Tower on Normanby Road were evacuated last Monday due to the risks.

Auckland Emergency Management said the demolition would begin tomorrow.

• READ MORE: Cyclone Gabrielle: Lives ‘turned upside down . . . destroyed’, says PM
• Cyclone Gabrielle: Pasifika songs of gratitude ring out across Hawke’s Bay
• Follow RNZ live updates

It said residents who were evacuated would not be able to move back until the works were finished.

The Colonial Ammunition Company shot tower was a relic of the “Russian scares” of the late 19th and early 20th century.

It was built to drop hot balls of lead into water below to create shot pellets.

The Colonial Ammunition Company was established in 1885 by Major John Whitney and W H Hazard in response to Tsar Alexander deploying some of his naval fleet into the North Pacific to Vladivostok.

Fears were rife that he was about to expand his empire.

Fortifications were quickly built in Auckland and the need for ammunition supplies independently of Britain became urgent.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Almost 30,000 homes have no power and major supply chains have been disrupted in Aotearoa New Zealand — and Prime Minister Chris Hipkins is also warning that more fatalities from Cyclone Gabrielle remain possible.

Hipkins said it was now seven days after the cyclone had passed through and the true extent of the devastation and loss was becoming clearer with every passing day.

“Lives have been turned upside down, many people have seen their homes and all their possessions completely destroyed,” he told a media briefing in Wellington late yesterday.

• READ MORE: RNZ photo essay: Cyclone Gabrielle damage becomes increasingly clear
• Cyclone Gabrielle: Death toll rises to 11, Civil Defence targets isolated communities
• Cyclone Gabrielle: Pasifika songs of gratitude ring out across Hawke’s Bay
• LISTEN TO RNZ PACIFIC WAVES: Susana Suisuiki reports
  
• Cyclone Gabrielle death toll rises to 9, thousands uncontactable and landslide risk in Auckland
• Cyclone Gabrielle: Where to donate
• Follow RNZ live updates

Countless others have been displaced, tragically so far 11 people have lost their lives, and more fatalities remain possible.”

He said 28,000 homes remained without power.

“Telecommunications have been severely disrupted, fresh water is in short supply in some areas and roads have been badly damaged, limiting access to some areas and causing significant delays in others,” he said.

He said supply chains had been disrupted and moving goods around had been “incredibly challenging”.

“Crops have been badly damaged, many completely destroyed.”

Death toll 11
Earlier yesterday, police confirmed two further deaths relating to the cyclone, bringing the total to 11.

Hipkins today paid tribute to emergency services and first responders, who had done New Zealand proud.

Watch the media briefing

Video: RNZ News

“Many have worked themselves to utter exhaustion. The stress and strain of the last week is clearly starting to show, and particularly in places where power and communications remains disrupted, we know that tensions can be high.”

He said nobody should underestimate the psychological toll this disaster was taking on some New Zealanders.

“The past week has pushed many to their limit, even more so given it comes on top of other weather events, the disruption of a global pandemic and too many other significant and disruptive challenges to mention — our resilience is being tested like never before,” Hipkins said.

“But as we’ve repeatedly seen in recent times, adversity brings out the best in Kiwis. We rally together and we support each other.

“We look out for our neighbours, we go the extra mile to protect the vulnerable, we share and we care. ”

The Australian emergency responders announced on Friday they were supporting Fire & Emergency NZ with a 27-person impact assessment team and Hipkins said 25 of them were already on the ground in the Hawke’s Bay, with two supporting the national co-ordination centre.

He said Aotearoa had also accepted an offer of support from Fiji — 10 personnel from their defence force, four fire authority crew and four national disaster management officials were preparing to leave for New Zealand in the coming days.

Crucial satellite imagery
He added that the United States and Australia — through the New Zealand Defence Force — had provided crucial satellite imagery products of the affected areas.

“And we’re in the final stages of working to accept an offer from the Australian Defence Force who will support the New Zealand Defence Force with a C-130 transport aircraft, air load teams to rig freight on the aircraft and environmental health staff to assist in analysing health risks.

“All of this will be a great help and we thank Fiji and the United States as we thank Australia.”

Hipkins said making a monetary donation was the single most helpful thing people can do in the wake of the cyclone to support those disrupted communities, because “that enables the support organisations to [require] what is needed in those communities”.

He said there was no doubt that New Zealand had a steep mountain ahead of it.

Tough calls
“Our attention over the past week has been focused on the initial emergency response, rescuing those stranded, restoring lifelines and removing hazards. In some areas that still remains very much the focus, in other areas though, recovery is starting to get underway,” Hipkins said.

“As the shape of the damage and the need becomes clearer we’ll be able to shape our response accordingly.

“We know that this will come with a big price tag and we will have to once again reprioritise and refocus our efforts and our resources. We will build back better, but we will also need to build back more resilient than before.”

He said the country had underinvested in infrastructure for far too long and that had to change.

“If we’re going to build back better and if we’re going to build back quickly, some tough calls will need to be made, and I’m absolutely committed to doing that.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The number of people in Aotearoa New Zealand whose deaths have been officially linked to Cyclone Gabrielle has risen to 11, with confirmation of two further deaths today.

In a statement, police said a person who passed away in their Onekawa home on Thursday is “believed to have died in circumstances related to Cyclone Gabrielle”.

The news was soon followed by confirmation of another death in Crownthorpe, Hastings police reported last night.

• READ MORE: Cyclone Gabrielle: Pasifika songs of gratitude ring out across Hawke’s Bay
• LISTEN TO RNZ PACIFIC WAVES: Susana Suisuiki reports
  
• Cyclone Gabrielle death toll rises to 9, thousands uncontactable and landslide risk in Auckland
• Cyclone Gabrielle: Where to donate
• Follow RNZ live updates

Police said this person was also believed to have died in circumstances related to the storm.

Both deaths have been referred to the Coroner.

Meanwhile, Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence said the focus of its cyclone response efforts remains reaching isolated rural communities today, including Wairoa.

Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence said the focus of its cyclone response efforts remained reaching isolated rural communities today, including Wairoa.

Yesterday 12 civilian helicopter flights landed in cut-off communities with food, water, and generators, and to check on welfare.

Edaan Lennan said those efforts would continue daily, and some communities would need to be revisited and stocked up with supplies.

He said teams were also working to arrange temporary accommodation for those in evacuation centres whose homes had been destroyed.

Five arrested for looting
Police are stressing safety as their number one priority amid lootings in flood-stricken areas, and they also urged people affected by Cyclone Gabrielle to report if they are safe.

As of 2pm Saturday, there have been 5608 reports of uncontactable people registered and 1196 reports from people registering that they are safe.

With communications slowly returning to areas severely affected by the cyclone, police are asking for people who have been uncontactable to friends and family to report themselves as being safe online as soon as possible.

As of Saturday night, five people have been arrested after a spate of lootings across Hawke’s Bay.

More than 100 extra officers were brought into the Eastern District, including to areas that were cut off from Cyclone Gabrielle.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

In the midst of all the destruction from Cyclone Gabrielle in Aotearoa New Zealand, Pasifika voices singing songs of praise and gratitude have rung out in church halls across Hawke’s Bay.

Pacific churches have been sanctuaries for RSE workers in the region, some of whom were clinging desperately to rooftops surrounded by raging waters during the height of the flooding.

Cyclone Gabrielle has robbed them of the few possessions they owned, but their faith remains.

• LISTEN TO RNZ PACIFIC WAVES: Susana Suisuiki reports
  
• Cyclone Gabrielle death toll rises to 9, thousands uncontactable and landslide risk in Auckland
• Cyclone Gabrielle: Where to donate
• Follow RNZ live updates

Hastings Pasifika community leader Tofilau Talalelei Taufale said that RSE workers in the region were among those worst affected by the extreme weather events.

He is currently on the ground, helping the workers who have been left homeless.

Tofilau said hundreds of workers have been evacuated:

“Many of them have been displaced, many of them have lost their possessions and many of them had struggled to contact their families to let them all know that they are safe.”

“So there’s a whole multitude of issues that impacted the shock that our RSE community is going through right now.”

As far as the emergency response is concerned Tofilau said he understands there are a lot of worried people, but he calls for patience and understanding.

Another day for our Tangata Tuārangi RSE workers taking shelter at EFKS Hastings – though they’ve lost everything, their spirits remain high once again big alofa to all the support. More details to come on how you can help from afar #cyclonegabrielle #HawkesBay pic.twitter.com/LUoO4UwJzh

— Ali Leota (@ALiLeota) February 15, 2023

“We acknowledge that as a community everyone is trying their best, given their limitations so that’s when we as a community will say, okay it is what it is, we’re gonna help.”

Although the clean-up is now well underway, it’s estimated that it could take months.

“We acknowledge that as a community everyone is trying their best, given their limitations so that’s when we as a community will say, okay it is what it is, we’re gonna help.”

Although the clean-up is now well underway, it’s estimated that it could take months.

To further complicate things telecommunication and internet connectivity remain limited – the safest method to keep connected is via smartphone, with data, but even that poses a challenge.

there’s just so many emotions on the ground here in Hawke’s Bay – but the resilience of our Tangata Tuārangi RSE workers from the Pacific keeps us all motivated and hopeful #CycloneGabrielle #HawkesBay #Fiji pic.twitter.com/TSu8Ytvo2Y

— Ali Leota (@ALiLeota) February 16, 2023

Tepura Trow of SENZ Training and Employment said despite the battering it had taken, Hawke’s Bay communities stood united.

“Our community has pulled together and they’ve got such an overwhelming and overload of donations coming in so I know that our focus and a lot of the NGOs and the community — our main focus is really, how can we set them up for after this.”

The Secretary and CEO of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples, Gerardine Clifford-Lidstone, said the outpouring of support has also been felt outside the hard-hit regions.

“For us, it’s not just about the Hawke’s Bay or the Auckland region, lots of questions from our concerned communities want to help and are wanting to provide blankets and towels and all those necessities of life that our families might need,” she said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. If you have been affected by the North Island floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, go to the Ministry of Social Development website to see how you can apply for help through the community support fund.

For our Pasifika community members, you can also contact the Ministry for Pacific Peoples website. The ministry has set out an extensive list of severe weather events information and contact numbers.

The death toll from Cyclone Gabrielle in Aotearoa New Zealand is rising — now 9 — and many areas in Hawke’s Bay have been left as disaster zones with rescues, rather than recovery, still the focus.

Power, internet and phone service is still patchy for many people in the region making communication difficult.

Police are working to reconnect people with loved ones who have been reported missing.

• READ MORE: Cyclone Gabrielle triggers more destructive forestry ‘slash’ – NZ must change how it grows trees
• Other Cyclone Gabrielle reports
• Follow RNZ’s live news blog

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins was in Esk Valley on Friday — an area where homes were completely inundated with water.

Driving through Eskdale, the mud is thick and still water crosses the roads in places.

Debris is strewn across orchards, fields and fences. Parts of the road are washed away, there are dead animals, and cars are wedged against buildings.

A lone boat perches on the dross in a field.

Harrowing time
It was a harrowing time for Maureen Dorr who owns The Doggy Farmstay in Eskdale.

When the floodwaters hit her house, she had six dogs staying with them and three of her own.

“So John got one — a German shepherd — and put him in the laundry. We put another one in the bathroom — a rottweiler, and then we put four on the double bed, and then I held two of them above the pantry near the ceiling.

“They (the floodwaters) came right up to our neck, and then John smashed the kitchen window as the water below the windowsill was lower and let some of the water out.”

She spent 12 hours like this, because going outside was even worse.

Some of the dogs nearly drowned, but they managed to revive them.

An 82-year-old man in a ute found them on the road and asked them if they needed help.

Escaped the valley
They bundled the small dogs in a box and tied the larger dogs on the back, escaping the valley, and leaving behind a derelict home.

“There’s no way you could even get in the house for silt. The kitchen side of the house is just about gone, the wall’s just about out. The furniture’s all backed up inside it, and we had drawers coming down the hallway, leaning against the kitchen window.”

All of the dogs survived, and the six dogs staying at her kennels are with other families until they can be returned to their owners.

Dorr is staying in Bay View and said they were being well supported and her neighbours were OK — they were up to their waist in water before getting into the roof cavity and being evacuated.

She is insured, but thinking about the future is too hard right now.

Nearby, Bay View residents are banding together to check on and support those impacted in the Esk Valley.

Rowan Kyle was one of them.

‘An apocalypse basically’
“I’d call it an apocalypse basically … being local to the area, it’s just unrecognisable. There’s just cars upside down, stacked everywhere. It’s like a bomb has gone off.”

One of the new developments had been devastated, Kyle said.

“They’re filled to the brim with mud, silt. Yeah, they’ve just had it. They’re saying that there’s potential, they might just have to write them off completely.”

He did not understand why the NZ Defence Force had not been in to assist them, saying residents have been mostly left to organise, pick up the pieces, and “fudge their way through it”.

Prime Minister Hipkins was discouraging people from speculating over the death toll of Cyclone Gabrielle.

“It’s no good to anybody speculating about how many people have been injured or how many people may have died in this tragedy. We’ll certainly share that information as soon as we can.

‘Outlandish claims’
“But I’ve heard some outlandish claims out there at the moment that there is no evidence to support.”

The cyclone was the biggest natural disaster seen this century, he said.

Thirty-one thousand people in Napier, 6000 people in Hastings and 1000 people in Wairoa have been without power for four days.

Civil Defence in Hawke’s Bay said there are still thousands of people in hundreds of communities who have yet to be contacted.

Group Controller Ian Macdonald said there were too many uncontacted communities to list and they were prioritising those they suspected were worst affected by the flooding.

“There are literally tens and maybe hundreds of communities. Communities can be anything from a 1000 people in one community at the back of Rissington through to just tens of people or just a few people.”

Helicopters were delivering communication gear and emergency supplies to the worst affected communities, he said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Cyclone Gabrielle: Thousands uncontactable, hundreds still without water or power https://t.co/PBdQjQqtmq

— RNZ News (@rnz_news) February 17, 2023

New Zealanders should be prepared for the number of fatalities in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle to increase, says Prime Minister Chris Hipkins.

He said at a media briefing in Gisborne that every available resource was being used to help find those who are missing and to rescue those who were known about but unable to be reached.

Over the past two days the rescue coordination centre had overseen 450 rescues and all rescue requests in the 111 system had been completed, Hipkins said.

• READ MORE: Cyclone Gabrielle: Tolaga Bay farmer seething over forestry slash floods
• Follow RNZ News live blog

Overnight the death toll rose to seven but there are still people for whom the police hold grave concerns.

As of 2.30pm yesterday, 3544 reports of uncontactable people had been registered with the police. A further 450 had been reported as found.

Those included multiple reports for the same people. Police were prioritising those in the more isolated areas.

“And we do need to be prepared for the likelihood that there will be more fatalities,” Hipkins said.

The situation in Gisborne
Hipkins said the damage in Gisborne was extensive and there was “absolutely no doubt” that communities impacted were under enormous pressure.

Earlier, Hipkins flew to Gisborne for his first in-person look at the scale of destruction from the cyclone.

Hipkins said it “was a pretty moving morning”.

“Flying in over Gisborne is was clear the extent of the damage even before we’d gotten off the plane.”

It was clear there were big challenges facing the community, he said.

Communication was incredibly difficult for some people and both fibre routes in and out of Gisborne had been damaged with engineers working to repair the damage as fast as they could, Hipkins said.

Getting the water supply up and running would not be an overnight fix but was a prority, he said.

Hawke’s Bay update
The government was trying to get hotspots and other temporary measures in place and 10 more Starlinks were on their way to Gisborne. Five units have been delivered to Wairoa and Hawke’s Bay, with more on the way.

Hipkins said there was a reasonably good supply of Starlinks in NZ.

“They’re not going to provide a complete answer though, but they will provide a limited amount of connectivity in those areas that are currently cut off and that will hopefully allow us to at least establish some of those basic communication channels.

“We’ve been able to reach Wairoa and Hawke’s Bay by road today and SH2 to Gisborne has also been opened on a limited basis for convoys of emergency supplies including food, water and fuel.”

Temporary supplies were on route and more would be arriving soon, he said.

“Fresh water is clearly an issue.”

There were real concerns for the Eskdale areas, Hipkins said.

Door-to-door
Teams were there going door-to-door to identify the extent of the damage and any human harm, he said. There had not been a report back from these teams yet.

People in Hawke’s Bay were advised to be prepared.

“We’re dealing with very unpredictable weather at the moment, it is certainly likely that there will be more rain, that’s what the forecasts are suggesting.”

The damage to roads in all areas was one of the most significant challenges and people in these areas were asked to minimise their own movements so supplies could get to where they were needed, Hipkins said.

“If you can stay put, stay put, make sure you’ve got everything you need to stay put if it’s safe to do that and if you need to evacuate be prepared and be ready to evacuate as well.

“That involves your grab to go bag, making sure you’ve got something warm and dry to wear and that you’ve got a plan.”

Communities were coming together and managing the situation very well, Hipkins said.

Alert others
People may need to go door-to-door to alert others if they need to evacuate, Hipkins said.

The most recent information is that approximately 102,000 customers are without power across the upper North Island.

Hipkins said the government had released $1 million as an immediate top up to the mayoral relief fund as the first step to help get immediate support to those who need it.

A further $1 million had been released to the Hawke’s Bay.

Widespread damage has hit farms across Aotearoa New Zealand’s North Island with those in parts of Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay particularly hard hit and forestry slash is once again a huge problem.

Tolaga Bay farmer Bridget Parker told how forestry slash has caused a huge amount of damage to her farm yet again as the death toll from Cyclone Gabrielle rose to six.

“It’s enormous — there is silt all over the road. It’s so thick you can’t walk through it; there are logs as far as the eye can see,” she said.

• READ MORE: Cyclone Gabrielle: NZ death toll rises, ‘grave concerns’ for several missing
• Follow RNZ’s live blog updates

“There are so many logs all the fences are down; wherever you look it’s total carnage.”

Parker, whose farm has been destroyed by forestry slash during storms multiple times, said they can look at forecasts for rain, wind, drought and even tides but they could not predict what was going to happen when it came to the logs.

“We don’t farm logs. Their logs [the forestry companies] and their friggin’ silt needs to stay inside their friggin’ estate gates.

“It does not have the right to be spewed over the 3000ha of beautiful land that is farmed on the flats below it.”

Parker said Minister for Forestry Stuart Nash needed to visit the region within the next week to answer to farmers.

“There’s floodwaters everywhere, in our house, in our sheds. It’s far higher than last time and we are really really struggling to cope; we’re really angry.”

Hawke’s Bay area ‘smashed’
Forestry slash has also caused issues on farms in Hawke’s Bay where there was widespread flooding and slips.

Suz Bremner, who runs sheep, beef and friesian bulls along the Taihape Napier Road, said she had never seen damage like it.

“I tipped out the rain gauge this morning. It was overflowing at 170mm so we don’t know how much we’ve had.

“The power is out but from what we are hearing from people nearby is that the wider Hawke’s Bay area has just been smashed.”

Bremner said she went for a drive around her farm yesterday morning to assess the damage but roads were blocked by trees while tracks had been washed away.

“Looking at some of our neighbours who have big cliff faces on their properties the slip damage is horrendous.

“We have a road through the top end of our farm and we turned down there this morning and my husband and I could not believe our eyes. The slash that had washed down through the creeks is unreal; I’ve never seen that before.

“I think the forestry has come down and created a dam and then during the night it’s just exploded and now there’s slash everywhere,” she said.

Other farmers RNZ spoke to in Hawke’s Bay said they were hunkering down waiting for the worst of the weather to pass before getting out to assess the level of damage.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

As a huge effort ramps up in Aotearoa New Zealand to restore essential services to thousands of people in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay, police hold “grave concerns” for some reported missing.

Five people have been confirmed killed in the devastation of Cyclone Gabrielle.

In Hawke’s Bay, a child was caught in rising water in the settlement of Eskdale, a woman died in a landslide, a body was found on the shore at Bay View, and a body believed to be caught in flood waters was found in Gisborne.

• READ MORE: NZ Defence Force starts supplying stricken Wairoa with food, water
• Cyclone Gabrielle: Wairoa cut off amid NZ devastation, woman dies after bank collapses on home
• Cyclone Gabrielle in pictures
• Follow RNZ’s live disaster newsfeed

The body of a volunteer firefighter who had been missing in Muriwai, near Auckland, since Monday night was recovered yesterday.

By Wednesday, more than 1400 people had been reported as “uncontactable” using the police 105 online reporting form, mostly in Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti.

While police expected a large number of the reports to be the result of communication lines being down, they confirmed they held “grave concerns” for several people missing in the Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti areas.

• With communities in cut-off regions having limited reception, here are RNZ’s text-only updates on what those in Tairāwhiti, Coromandel and Hawke’s Bay need to know.
• And here are a few tips for people in affected areas on getting around network connection problems.

The navy ship HMNZS Manawanui is due in Tairāwhiti this morning with water supplies, and HMNZS Te Mana will sail to Napier to supply Wairoa with water and other essentials.

The NZ Defence Force expects to move a water treatment facility to Wairoa, and a rapid relief team that reached the town on Wednesday will be handing out up to 500 food packages.

Engineers and roading crews are checking bridges and clearing roads throughout both regions.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins is due to fly to Gisborne today in what will be his first in-person look at the scale of destruction from Cyclone Gabrielle.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The brave little shrubs are doing their valiant best to stay intact as a plant pot skids across our balcony in Cyclone Gabrielle’s first caress. With much worse yet to come I need to know what, where, and when.

I need information and, if I have to cut my way through a jungle of official sources, I will still be in the rain forest when Gabby takes me in her crushing embrace.

This, I tell myself, is precisely why we need news media. They draw together an overwhelming range of sources and condense information into a readily absorbed format.

• READ MORE:  Cyclone Gabrielle: NZ death toll rises, ‘grave concerns’ for several missing
• NZ Defence Force starts supplying stricken Wairoa with food, water
• Cyclone Gabrielle: Wairoa cut off amid NZ devastation, woman dies after bank collapses on home
• Cyclone Gabrielle in pictures
• Follow RNZ’s live disaster newsfeed

Then they keep updating and adding to the picture.

As I write this commentary on Monday, that picture is already changing. An hour ago, the rain was a fine drizzle and there was little wind. Now the rain is heavier, and the wind is coming in strong gusts. In another couple of hours I expect the freight train that Northland residents heard as Gabrielle passed through, and the driveway will be a cascade.

Then the triangle of soil (that has already subsided by about 30 centimetres) may slide from the edge of the adjacent bush reserve into the stream below.

From my study window I see only a small picture, but I need a wider view. I need to know how my brothers and their families are faring in Northland and on the Awhitu Peninsula, what our friends in various parts of Auckland and the North Island will be experiencing. And I have a general concern for the well-being of the city I call home.

Good overall picture
I have been well-served by news media — websites, television, and radio — keeping me updated on the impact of the cyclone. I have a good overall picture of its effects so far and how it is tracking.

And I have details. I know which schools are closed. I know power outages are affecting 58,000 households and where this has closed supermarkets and stores. I know that, if possible, the mail will get through, but that Auckland Airport has cancelled most flights and Ports of Auckland is at a standstill.

While I waited for nature to do its worst (no, I shouldn’t say that because I’m sure Gabrielle isn’t the worst sociopath that climate change will spawn), I embarked on an exercise. I wanted to demonstrate the lengths to which members of the public would have to go to stay informed if they did not have the news media reporting on what may be the worst storm in Aucklanders’ living memory.

I assumed, for the purpose of the exercise I began at 10.30 a.m. on Monday, that the average person did not know a lot about the structures and operations of emergency management.

The Auckland version of civil defence has a name that is hard to remember so I started with the Auckland City website. The first thing I noticed was information on how to pay my rates and book an inorganic rubbish collection. Then I spied a banner right at the top headed “State of local emergency”. There was a link to Auckland Emergency Management (that hard to remember name).

The AEM homepage contained 77 links to other websites and sources of information on everything from the location of evacuation centres to Mayor Wayne Brown’s carefully documented declaration of a state of local emergency (vital information when you are trapped in your house under the crushing presence of a downed macrocarpa).

I clicked on the “latest media update” but the link didn’t seem to work. I was invited to click on “Our Auckland” for the previous update. Um, no, all I found was broad general information and direction back to the homepage.

In search of weather
On my return I went in search of the weather and clicked on a link to the Metservice website. There was a fresh update on the red and orange alerts that had been well-canvassed elsewhere, accompanied by a map that was 24 hours old (it was updated shortly thereafter).

Back to the homepage.

Next, I wanted an update on road travel. I clicked first on the Auckland Transport link and then on road closure warnings. Another click and I was looking at eight area designations and found my residence (on the central Auckland isthmus) under “south urban”. Another click I was confronted by an alphabetical list of street names with no indication of the suburb, but it didn’t matter because these were simply streets with warnings of potential closure. The roads that were closed were on a separate list (another click) that did include suburbs.

But what about the highways and byways outside Auckland? That required separate excursions, first to the Waka Kotahi website then to local authority websites such as the Thames Coromandel District Council’s excellent site which also contained warnings of potential coastal inundations from storm surges.

Back to the AEM homepage and another journey to find out about power outages. There were links to the Vector and Counties Energy websites. To check whether my brother in Northland was still without power, I had to leave the AEM site because he is outside its emergency jurisdiction.

The Northpower outages map was easy to use and took me straight to his location (power restored) while the Vector map for central Auckland seems designed to push anxious customers over the edge.

My other brother’s part of the Awhitu Peninsula has communications links that I might charitably describe as tenuous, so I wanted to check whether he still had cellular coverage. I decided to check the three main providers. Spark’s outages information was top of the home page and informative while 2 Degrees was equally useful even though it required scrolling to the bottom of the homepage.

Sales pitches
Vodafone seemed too intent on selling things to me and I gave up on its website, opting instead for a Google search.

What of Gabrielle’s effect on the rest of the country?

Civil Defence now has the much easier to remember title of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). By and large its Cyclone Gabrielle page points me back to the places I had already been, although it offered the alternative of Facebook pages. East Cape seemed to be in for a pounding, so I clicked on the Tairāwhiti Civil Defence Facebook page. Most of its content was in the form of timely warnings rather than updates. Like all Facebook pages, the order of posts reflected the latest addition, not necessarily relative importance. And there were links and more links to other sites.

I returned to the NEMA homepage and completed my exhausting journey with a click back to the Auckland Emergency Management website, satisfied that I had proven my point, at least to myself. A level of digital competence and almost endless patience is required to access the information we seek in emergencies.

All I can say is thank God for news media. They carry out a vital task in emergencies like Cyclone Gabrielle. They bring together a mass of information which can be readily — and quickly — accessed by the public. To that they add their vital role in holding power to account, as they demonstrated during the Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods and will doubtless do again after this cyclone has passed. You will not find that on an official website.

Crucially, news media are available in forms that do not require digital competence or digital access. Newspapers, television, and radio are readily available and each has its own strengths — print provides in-depth information and advice, television brings home the reality of the storm, and radio has immediacy.

If Gabrielle is as nasty as the scene outside my window is beginning to suggest, we could lose power and mobile coverage. Then all those official websites will count for nothing, but my transistor radio — complete with a new set of batteries — will continue to bring me the news and help me to stay safe.

Dr Gavin Ellis holds a PhD in political studies. He is a media consultant and researcher. A former editor-in-chief of The New Zealand Herald, he has a background in journalism and communications — covering both editorial and management roles — that spans more than half a century. Dr Ellis publishes the website knightlyviews.com where this commentary was first published and it is republished by Asia Pacific Report with permission.

A NZ Defence Force operation was beginning tonight to supply Wairoa in New Zealand’s North Island with food and water after being cut off by Cyclone Gabrielle floodwaters.

A rapid relief team flown in by the airforce was organising a drop of bottled water for 3000 people from a helicopter this evening.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the team was also providing BBQ meals for a similar number of people, and would provide 300 to 500 food packages in the morning.

• READ MORE:  Cyclone Gabrielle: Wairoa cut off amid NZ devastation, woman dies after bank collapses on home
• Cyclone Gabrielle: Severity of damage ‘not seen in a generation’, says PM
• Cyclone Gabrielle in pictures
• Live RNZ newsfeed

They will only stop cooking if they run out of people to feed or run out of food, Hipkins said

Three airforce helicopters also carried out evacuations in Hawke’s Bay today.

The army has deployed a logistics support team of 100 people and 30 vehicles to Hawke’s Bay, while the air force today surveyed damage along the East Coast.

The HMNZS Manawanui was expected to arrive at first light in Gisborne, delivering water supplies to small communities on its way.

Water treatment plant
The Defence Force will also take a water treatment plant to Wairoa, with the HMNZS Te Mana delivering further drinking water.

NZDF now has more than 700 people involved in relief efforts, along with four aircraft, seven helicopters, two ships and 58 trucks.

MetService said heavy rain would continue to hit central New Zealand until Thursday with high waves along East Coast.

Earlier, Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence reported Wairoa (pop. 8000) had been completely cut off overnight and had only one day worth of food and enough drinking water for two days.

In a statement, the Civil Defence branch said the town had lost lifelines to Napier and Gisborne, including power, phones, internet and roads.

A National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) representative was on route to Wairoa via helicopter from Napier overnight to support the team and the response effort.

With power restored to most of Wairoa by 5pm, with the exception of Mahia/Tuai, the key concern for the welfare of the community was be dwindling food and water supplies, Civil Defence said.

Relying on air supplies
Controller Liz Lambert said that with the loss of roads, they would be relying on supplies coming in by air.

“Wairoa only has one day’s worth of food, and enough drinking water for two days. We have made a request to NEMA for enough food and water to supply the district for seven days.”

Much of Hawke’s Bay remained flooded as the region braced for continued rain, Civil Defence said.

Evacuations in the wider Hawke’s Bay on Tuesday took place in Ruataniwha, Waihirere and Ormond Rd, Haumoana, Eskdale, Taradale, Porangahau village, Waipawa township, Waipukura, Awatoto, Te Awa, Brookfield and Wairoa.

Police and FENZ have carried out numerous rescues and continue to respond to stranded residents, according to Civil Defence.

Evacuation Centres were activated at Taihoa Marae, War Memorial Hall and Presbyterian Hall. An Evacuation Centre in Nuhaka has been established at the Mormon Church.

Evacuation centres are in operation in Central Hawke’s Bay, Hastings, Napier and Wairoa with additional sites being added as required.

Power outages
In Hastings and Napier, the cause of power outages has been linked to the flooding of the Redclyffe substation causing the Transpower network to go down, Civil Defence said.

“Unison reported outages for 60,000 customers across Hastings, Havelock North, Napier, north along east coast to Tūtira and south to Waimārama. It is expected to take some time before power is fully restored across the region.

A number of the region’s cell towers are being operated on battery supply allowing some network coverage although this is still intermittent. Mobile communications are still out in Wairoa with response teams relying on radio and FENZ communicating via satellite.

A number of bridges remain impassable and there is still no access between Hastings and Napier.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The extent of devastation caused by Cyclone Gabrielle in Aotearoa New Zealand is still unfolding with vast areas of the North Island flooded, at least 2500 evacuated and Wairoa cut off by phone and road.

Power is now mostly back on in the northern Hawke’s Bay town but its 8000 residents have no phone service, only one day’s worth of food and enough drinking water for two days, after the Wairoa River burst its banks.

Wairoa District Council is communicating with the outside world via satellite.

• READ MORE:  Cyclone Gabrielle: Severity of damage ‘not seen in a generation’, says PM
• Cyclone Gabrielle in pictures
• Live RNZ newsfeed

An air force plane will fly over the town today to assess the damage.

A woman died overnight in Putorino, in northern Hawke’s Bay after a bank collapsed onto her home, Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence said.

Thousands of people are out of their homes in other areas from Tairāwhiti to Hawke’s Bay and Tararua on the eastern coast, and Dargaville, Muriwai, Piha and Karekare in the west.

MetService said heavy rain would continue to hit central New Zealand until Thursday with high waves along the east coast.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Watch: Dramatic rooftop rescue of stranded seasonal workers in Hawke’s Bay https://t.co/1IbiAbtzaU

— RNZ News (@rnz_news) February 14, 2023

At least 2500 people have been displaced by Cyclone Gabrielle this week, says Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty.

About 1000 of those are in the Far North and another 1000 in Hawke’s Bay. The rest are mostly from Auckland, with some also in Bay of Plenty and Waikato.

But little is known about the situation in the east, with communications minimal and access hampered due to continued high winds and rain.

• READ MORE:  NZ declares national emergency as Cyclone Gabrielle unleashes fury across North Island
• Cyclone Gabrielle: Flooding and land slips isolate some Auckland regions
• Firefighters trapped, injured in Auckland’s Muriwai house collapse
• By the numbers: Cyclone Gabrielle’s impact
• Widespread damage: Cyclone Gabrielle in pictures
• Follow RNZ’s live news blog

Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence said a women had died in Putorino, after a bank collapsed onto her home.

Wairoa is of particular concern, with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) “working very hard” to find out what is happening in the northern Hawke’s Bay region.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, speaking to media yesterday with McAnulty, said the Telecommunications Emergency Forum “has been activated and is working closely with NEMA and local Civil Defence organisations”.

“The first priority… remains the restoration of regional cellphone signals. High winds and ongoing poor weather is hampering progress in that area.”

There has also been a fibre cut affecting Taupō, Hastings and Napier and other areas.

‘Completely isolated’ Wairoa only has one day’s food, Civil Defence says https://t.co/UBjWe4suda

— RNZ News (@rnz_news) February 14, 2023

Comparisons to Cyclone Bola
Hipkins called Cyclone Gabrielle the most significant weather event in New Zealand so far this century.

“The severity and the breadth of damage we are seeing has not been seen in a generation.”

Asked how it compared to 1988’s destructive Cyclone Bola, Hipkins said he “wasn’t around in this kind of role” then so could not immediately compare the two. Officials were still building a picture of the impact of the cyclone, he said.

“In the last 24 hours or so, Fire and Emergency New Zealand have 1842 incidents related to Cyclone Gabrielle in their system . . . Two-hundred defence force personnel have so far been deployed and there are more on standby.”

Transpower had announced a national grid emergency, following the loss of power to the Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne, with potential for extended periods of outages, Hipkins said.

“This is a very significant event for the electricity network and the companies have not seen this level of damage since Cyclone Bola . . .

“The situation is changing rapidly and the lines companies are expecting more customers to be affected. They are working to restore power as quickly as possible… but restoration in some parts may have to wait until weather conditions improve.”

Many supermarkets in Northland have been affected and closed. People were asked to only buy what they needed, Hipkins said, urging people to avoid non-essential travel. If it was unavoidable, people should let friends and family know where they were going, he added.

“A high number of roads have been affected by surface flooding and by slips.”

The latest available information is on the Waka Kotahi website, which remained the best source of information for anyone having to travel, Hipkins said.

“On behalf of all New Zealanders I want to extend all of our gratitude to our emergency responders. They are putting in the hard yards and their lives are on the line in the service of their communities.

“To the families of the volunteer firefighters who responded to events in Muriwai last night and to the wider Fire and Emergency New Zealand family, our thoughts and hopes are with all of you.”

“To the men and women of the Defence Force, the linemen and women, the communication companies, the supermarkets, the transport companies getting goods to where they are needed, the roading crews that are making that all possible, thank you to you also.”

Danger remains
The good news is the weather is expected to ease overnight, Hipkins said. But that did not mean the danger would ease as quickly.

“People should still expect some bad weather overnight, particularly on the East Coast . . .  as we know from experience over the last few weeks, even if the rainfall eases off a bit, more rainfall can compound on top of the rainfall that we’ve already seen.

“So when it comes to slips and so on, we could still see more of that even as the weather starts to ease. We’re still in for a bumpy time ahead.”

The prime minister declined to put a figure on what the recovery might cost, but said insurance companies would cover a “significant portion”.

“People will pick numbers out of thin air and they may be right or they may be wrong. It’s really too early to put an exact number on it.”

He said it could impact on already fast-rising food prices, and would not rule out seeking international assistance.

Some farmers’ land has been damaged not just by the flooding, but forestry waste known as “slash”.

Hipkins said something would definitely need to be done to lessen the risk of slash destruction in the future.

Climate change’s contribution
As for climate change’s impact on the sheer scale of the storm, Hipkins rejected a suggestion that his actions since taking over as Prime Minister have weakened New Zealand’s efforts towards reducing emissions.

As a part of his policy reset, Hipkins canned a planned biofuels mandate and extended subsidies for fuel, a major contributor to warming.

“There is significant debate about whether the biofuels mandate was the right way of reducing our emissions from transport, when there are the other alternatives and other things that we can look at,” he explained.

“In terms of extending the fuel subsidies, we have to acknowledge that actually, there are people still having to get in their cars every day to drive to work, and we need to support them through what is a very, very difficult time at the moment.

“That does not in any way — I don’t believe — undermine our commitment to tackling the causes of climate change.”

He said Gabrielle’s impact would have “underscored” the need to keep reducing emissions.

“It is real, it is having an impact and we have a responsibility to do something about it.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Cyclone Gabrielle: Rural Hawke’s Bay residents scramble onto roofs to avoid flooding https://t.co/7qEDU7dSkh

— RNZ News (@rnz_news) February 14, 2023

A national state of emergency has been declared today after Cyclone Gabrielle unleashed fury across the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand.

There has been widespread power outages, flooding, slips and damage to properties.

Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty said both the prime minister, and the Opposition spokesperson for emergency management were supportive of the move.

• READ MORE:  Cyclone Gabrielle lashes NZ’s North Island – Whāngarei basin residents told to evacuate
• Cyclone Gabrielle: Flooding and land slips isolate some Auckland regions
• Firefighters trapped, injured in Auckland’s Muriwai house collapse
• By the numbers: Cyclone Gabrielle’s impact
• Cyclone Gabrielle: Who to call, what to do if the roof comes off or windows smash
• Follow RNZ’s live news blog

He said this was an unprecedented weather event impacting on much of the North Island.

This is only the third time in New Zealand history a national state of emergency has been declared — the other two being the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes and the covid-19 pandemic.

The national state of emergency is declared.     Video: RNZ News

The declaration, signed at 8.43am, will apply to the six regions that have already declared a local State of Emergency — Northland, Auckland, Tairāwhiti, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, and Hawkes Bay.

A national state of emergency gives the National Controller legal authority to apply further resources across the country and set priorities in support of a national level response.

Speaking to media at the Beehive, McAnulty said Tararua District had also declared a state of emergency.

‘Significant disaster’
“This is a significant disaster with a real threat to the lives of New Zealanders,” he said.

“Today we are expecting to see more rain and high winds. We are through the worst of the storm itself but we know we are facing extensive flooding, slips, damaged roads and infrastructure.

“This is absolutely not a reflection on the outstanding work being done by emergency responders who have been working tirelessly, local leadership, or civil defence teams in the affected areas.

“It is simply that NEMA’s advice is that we can better support those affected regions through a nationally coordinated approach.”

He said the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) met with local civil defence teams early this morning and heard that a national state of emergency would be beneficial for them.

It allowed the government to support affected regions, coordinate additional resources as they are needed across multiple regions and help set the priorities across the country for the response, he said.

“Our message to everyone affected is: safety first. Look after each other, your family and your neighbours. Please continue to follow local civil defence advice and please minimise travel in affected areas.

‘Don’t wait for services’
“If you are worried about your safety — particularly because of the threat of flooding or slips — then don’t wait for emergency services to contact you.

“Leave, and seek safety either with family, friends, or at one of the many civil defence centres that have been opened.”

He said iwi, community groups and many others had opened up shelters and were offering food and support to those in need.

“I also want to acknowledge that there have been reports of a missing firefighter – a volunteer firefighter — who is a professional and highly trained but left their family to work for their communities and the search continues.

“Our thoughts are with the FENZ staff and their families.”

Acting Civil Defence Director Roger Ball said we have had multiple weather warnings and watches in place and the effects of the cyclone will continue to be felt across the country today.

He said that if other regions or areas declared local states of emergency, they would be added to the national declaration.

“Under a state of national emergency, myself as the director and my national controller have authority to direct and control the response under the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act, including allocation of resources and setting priorities.”

He said no effort would be spared.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Images of Hikuwai River bridge north of Tolaga Bay with the water level at more than 14m. Source: Manu Caddie FB

It has been a soggy few weeks for Aotearoa New Zealand’s upper North Island, with late January’s Auckland downpour and now, Cyclone Gabrielle.

States of emergency have been declared across Ikaroa-a-Māui, schools and non-essential services shut and public transport in the country’s biggest city running at a minimum.

Forecasters knew early on Gabrielle would be serious, prompting Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown to pre-emptively extend a state of emergency already in place to handle the previous month’s record rainfall and subsequent flooding.

• READ MORE:  Cyclone Gabrielle lashes NZ’s North Island – Whāngarei basin residents told to evacuate
• Thousands without power, evacuations begin as Cyclone Gabrielle hits NZ
• Northland declares state of emergency as Cyclone Gabrielle hits NZ
• Red weather warnings as Cyclone Gabrielle makes NZ landfall
• Cyclone Gabrielle in pictures with RNZ
• Follow RNZ’s live news coverage

“This summer just keeps on giving to the top of the North Island,” said Dr Dáithí Stone, a climate scientist with the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA).

“Each summer, Northland and Auckland are usually on the verge of drought, with a pretty severe one experienced just three years ago. Not this summer.”

So what has changed?
“Tropical cyclones feed off of the energy provided by hot ocean waters,” said Stone, noting recent summers — including the one we are in now — have seen “unusually warm water in the Tasman Sea and around Aotearoa”.

“This warm water is partly an effect of the warm ‘La Niña’ waters spanning the western tropical Pacific and partly some local ocean activities happening in the Tasman Sea, but the ongoing warming trend from human-induced climate change is playing a big role too.”

La Niña is an atmospheric phenomenon that usually happens every few years, when winds blow warm surface water from the eastern Pacific Ocean towards Indonesia.

In New Zealand, the result is “moist, rainy conditions” in the north and east of the country and warmer-than-average sea and air temperatures.

“Large-scale climate drivers (like La Niña) have elevated the risks of [a tropical cyclone] happening this summer,” said Dr Luke Harrington, a senior lecturer in climate change at the University of Waikato.

“In fact, seasonal predictions pointed to elevated chances of multiple [tropical cyclones] occurring in this region of the Pacific as early as October.”

Climate change cannot be blamed for Gabrielle’s existence — recent studies have suggested the globe’s warming is actually reducing the frequency of tropical storms in the Pacific — but the extra energy it affords systems could be making those that do form stronger.

“It’s likely that the low pressure centre of the system will be slightly more extreme than what might have been in a world without climate change, with the associated winds therefore likely also slightly stronger,” said Harrington.

Not many cyclones make it this far south intact, but the combined effects of climate change and La Niña are helping there too.

“The waters in the Tasman Sea and around New Zealand have been unusually warm,” said Dr Joao de Souza, director of the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment-funded Moana Project.

“The rate of warming has been above the global average since 2012-2013, with the last two years presenting record-breaking ocean temperatures leading to unprecedented marine heat waves around Aotearoa.”

The current La Niña has been “protracted”, the World Meteorological Organisation said in August, and it is only just now starting to ease, after three Southern Hemisphere summers – the longest this century.

As a result, Stone said extreme weather systems like Gabrielle “can maintain themselves much closer to us than before and are not disrupted so much by cooler seas that are no longer there”.

“La Niña events also change the winds, bringing more hot and wet air from the tropics our way.

“Finally, the warmer air of a warming world can hold all of that moisture until it meets the mountains of Aotearoa.”

More to come?
And there could be more like Gabrielle on the way, sooner than you might expect.

“As the storm passes over New Zealand we see the ocean surface temperatures decrease as a consequence of the energy being drawn and surface waters being mixed with deeper, cooler waters. This is happening right now with Cyclone Gabrielle,” de Souza said.

“Once the cyclone moves away we should see the ocean surface temperatures rise again . . . All this means we have the pre-conditions necessary for the generation of new storms in the Coral Sea and their impact on New Zealand. And this situation is forecasted to prevail at least until April-May.”

The Coral Sea is a region of the Pacific between Queensland, the Solomons and New Caledonia.

The longer-term remains unclear, said Stone.

“Is Gabrielle’s track toward us a fluke… or does it portend the future? We do not really know at the moment, but NIWA, the MBIE Endeavour Whakahura project, and colleagues in Australia are developing techniques that we hope will help us answer that question very soon.”

Information for this article was provided by the Science Media Centre. It is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Cyclone Gabrielle was battering parts of the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand with strong winds and heavy rain last night.

Most of the North Island is covered by some kind of Severe Weather Watch or Warning either for wind, rain or both.

Red heavy rain warnings have been issued for Northland, Auckland, the Coromandel and the northern parts of Gisborne Tairāwhiti.

• READ MORE: Northland declares state of emergency as Cyclone Gabrielle hits NZ
• Red weather warnings as Cyclone Gabrielle makes NZ landfall
• Cyclone Gabrielle in pictures with RNZ
• Cyclone Gabrielle closes in on Aotearoa: Warnings and forecasts
• Cyclone Gabrielle: Auckland sandbag stations run out of bags, people told ‘bring your own’ as storm approaches
• Follow RNZ’s live news coverage

Red strong wind warnings have been issued for Northland, Auckland and the Coromandel.

Vector said at 7pm 15,000 households in the Auckland area were without power last night.

“Our crews are responding as quickly and safely as they can, given the current weather conditions,” said a spokesperson.

Cyclone Gabrielle covering all of the North Island as of 7:20pm today. pic.twitter.com/niRd0Z1vrn

— Australasia From Space (@AussieFromSpace) February 12, 2023

Auckland Harbour Bridge closed
In the Coromandel Peninsula, about 11,000 homes were without power.

The storm has cut supply in Port Charles, Waikawau, Manaia, Tairua, Cooks Beach and parts of Whitianga.

Electricity has also been cut to Paeroa on the Hauraki Plains and Pururi, just south of Thames.

The Auckland Harbour Bridge remained closed overnight due to high winds.

Waka Kotahi made the decision to close the bridge just after 3:30pm yesterday afternoon, which was met with criticism from motorists.

National Emergency Response spokesperson Mark Owen said that while safety was its priority, closing the bridge was very challenging.

The bridge will remain closed until further notice.

Self-evacuations in Gisborne
Many families in Gisborne left their homes voluntarily ahead of the severe wind and rain.

Cyclone Gabrielle was set to reach Gisborne last night, bringing gale-force winds and nine metre storm surges and heavy rain.

Up to 450mm was forecast north of Tolaga Bay before Tuesday.

RNZ will continue live coverage from 5am Monday morning and update any major developments overnight.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Northland has declared a state of emergency and the Auckland Harbour Bridge has been closed as steady rain and strong winds from Cyclone Gabrielle hit Aotearoa New Zealand today, but MetService says this is just the beginning.

The Northland Regional council said a precautionary state of emergency had been declared for an initial period of seven days, as part of the regional response to Cyclone Gabrielle.

It said emergency declarations were relatively rare in Northland, with only six emergency declarations in the past 50 years, some of which affected only parts of the region.

• READ MORE: Red weather warnings as Cyclone Gabrielle makes NZ landfall
• Cyclone Gabrielle in pictures with RNZ
• Cyclone Gabrielle closes in on Aotearoa: Warnings and forecasts
• Cyclone Gabrielle: Auckland sandbag stations run out of bags, people told ‘bring your own’ as storm approaches
• Follow RNZ’s live news coverage

Meanwhile, Waka Kotahi confirmed all lanes on the Auckland Harbour Bridge were closed due to strong winds at 3.40pm.

Its website said the closure is “until further notice” and motorists were urged to delay their journey or use detours such as the Western Ring Route.

A red heavy rain warning has been issued for Coromandel, Gisborne north of Tolaga Bay, and Auckland, including Great Barrier Island and other islands in the Hauraki Gulf, while strong wind warnings are also in place — including a red one for Coromandel Peninsula, Northland and Auckland.

Speaking at today’s official update, MetService meteorologist Georgina Griffiths said that even with significant wind gusts in Northland already being reported, the weather today was just the start.

“This is the entree. This is not the impact day.”

She said they had not seen pressure this low in 40 years.

“This is a serious event for New Zealand.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Cyclone Gabrielle is already bringing steady rain and strong winds to northern parts of Aotearoa New Zealand after sparing Norfolk Island and MetService warns there is plenty more on the way.

A red heavy rain warning has been issued for Coromandel, Gisborne north of Tolaga Bay, and Auckland, including Great Barrier Island and other islands in the Hauraki Gulf from Sunday to Tuesday.

Northland has a red warning in place until Monday midnight.

• READ MORE: Cyclone Gabrielle closes in on Aotearoa: Warnings and forecasts
• Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle spares Norfolk Island
• Cyclone Gabrielle: Auckland sandbag stations run out of bags, people told ‘bring your own’ as storm approaches
• Follow RNZ’s live news coverage

An orange rain warning is in place for Gisborne from Tolaga Bay southwards, Wairarapa including the Tararua District, Eastern Marlborough south of Blenheim, including Kaikoura Coast, Bay of Plenty west of Whakatane, and Hawke’s Bay (from Monday to Tuesday).

Strong wind warnings are also in place — including a red one for Coromandel Peninsula and Auckland (including Great Barrier Island and other islands in the Hauraki Gulf) until Tuesday.

MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris said some areas had already seen up to 10mm of rain in an hour.

Tairāwhiti and the Coromandel were set to be worst hit today with the most severe weather arriving at 3pm, Ferris said.

Top Energy, which manages the electricity lines network in the Far North District, said its teams were working to restore power to nearly 1500 customers in Taupo Bay, Russell and Taheke.

In Auckland, there are outages at Karekare and Henderson in West Auckland, pockets of east Auckland and the North Shore.

Norfolk Island spared
On Norfolk Island — halfway between New Zealand and Australia — winds cut power, brought down trees and blocked roads, but it appears to have been spared the worst.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Coromandel Peninsula and Gisborne north of Tolaga Bay are now under red heavy rain warnings in Aotearoa New Zealand linked to Cyclone Gabrielle.

MetService says it expects up to 400 mm of rain to fall in the regions, mostly on Monday.

Civil Defence Controller for the Coromandel Garry Towler said that as well as heavy rain, winds of up to 130 km/h were expected and after weeks of severe weather, civil defence officials are very worried.

• READ MORE: Other NZ extreme weather reports

Towler said the Coromandel was in a fragile state after the extreme weather battering late last month — which left four people dead — and Civil Defence was deploying as many resources onto the Coromandel as it could.

He said a mobile alert would be issued this afternoon, and warnings would go out to people in vulnerable areas.

The storm is due to track across Northland on Sunday before moving south to Auckland, Coromandel, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Gisborne on Monday and Tuesday.

Forecasters are warning of strong wind, heavy rain and big seas.

Widespread severe weather
MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris said the cyclone would bring widespread severe weather.

The cyclone had taken a more eastern track over the last few days, but there was still disagreement over where the central point will lie when it made landfall, Ferris said.

“It’s still looking like Monday-Tuesday are going to be the biggest days for the weather with the approaching cyclone. The worst impacts, where they are and when they occur, are still going to be riding on where the track of the cyclone actually eventuates.”

It is possible that even Wellington could see some impacts, MetService said.

The cyclone has been upgraded to category 3.

MetService has issued heavy rain and strong wind watches ahead of its arrival.

Earlier today, MetService issued upgraded orange heavy rain and wind warnings associated with Cyclone Gabrielle.

Orange warnings
The orange warnings covered Northland, Auckland north of Whangaparaoa, including Great Barrier Island, Coromandel Peninsula, Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay.

The rest of the North Island was under a strong wind watch, along with Marlborough, Nelson and Buller north of Seddonville in the South Island.

There was also a heavy swell warning for Wairarapa.

Meanwhile, the government is urging people to avoid non-essential travel in areas that could be hit by Cyclone Gabrielle.

Air New Zealand is offering flight deferrals in affected areas, asking people to postpone air travel unless it was urgent.

Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty said safety trumped the disappointment of scrapping weekend plans.

“We would urge people, despite the inconvenience this would naturally cause, to heed that advice, because it is not given lightly,” he said.

“We are taking this very seriously. Depending on how this tracks it could be quite severe and we’re just asking people to take it seriously.”

McAnulty said he had assurances government agencies and local civil defence services would update their social media channels regularly.

People were also being urged to stock three days’ worth of food and water and prepare for possible power outages.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

• Latest advice from Civil Defence here.
• Latest MetService warnings are here.

A platform has been dedicated to bolster the Pacific leadership at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties — COP27.

Known as the Moana Blue Pacific Pavilion, the Fono or council aims to faciliate talanoa, or conversation, and knowledge-sharing on issues important to the Pacific, especially advocacy for ambitious climate action and the need for financing.

More than 70 side events will be hosted at the Pavilion, providing a platform for Pacific people to tell their stories.

• READ MORE: COP27: Nobel Prize winners demand Egypt free political prisoners
• Other climate justice reports

Another space, the Pacific Delegation Office, has been set up for hosting meetings with partners and strategising negotiation approaches.

New Zealand Climate Change Ambassador Kay Harrison said the platforms were a key part of ensuring the Pacific’s voice was heard and considered.

The two platforms are part of a Pacific partnership with New Zealand managed by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).

Meanwhile, Tonga Meteorological Services Deputy Director Laitia Fifita said his department was attending the conference to share data on Tonga’s climate, which had seen the appearance of four devastating cyclones over the last decade.

“Not only is our director attending this meeting but also the head of government, and the King and Queen are also attending.

“So it’s a nationwide approach, taking relevant issues about the impacts of climate change on small island developing states including Tonga.”

COP27 kicks off this weekend in Sham El Sheikh, Egypt, with an estimated 45,000 people expected to attend.

However, climate experts are not holding their breath for major breakthroughs at the annual conference, with some concerns rich countries will be missing in action.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. 

Fiji’s weather office predicts that up to seven tropical cyclones may affect several Pacific countries in the coming cyclone season — and up to four of them may be severe.

In its 2022/2023 Tropical Cyclone Seasonal Outlook, the Fiji government predicted that the region would experience less than the annual average cyclone activity.

Fiji’s National Disaster and Management Minister Jone Usamate announced there would be between five and seven tropical cyclones and that three or four of them may be severe.

• READ MORE: Other Pacific cyclone reports

The minister said at least two of those cyclones were likely to pass through Fiji during the cyclone season which runs from early November to the end of April.

The Fiji Meteorological Service also serves as the Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre (RSMC) and functions as the weather watch office for the region from southern Kiribati to Tuvalu, Fiji, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna and New Caledonia.

It also provides forecast services for aviators in an area that includes Christmas Island (Line Islands), Tokelau, Samoa, Niue and Tonga.

“On average seven cyclones affect the RSMC Nadi region every cyclone season. Thus, our 2022-2023 cyclone season is predicted to have an average to below average number of cyclones,” Usamate said.

“On average, three severe tropical cyclones affect the RSMC Nadi region every season, therefore the 2022-2023 tropical cyclone season is predicted to have an average to below average number of severe cyclones. For severe cyclones which are category three or above, we anticipate one to four severe tropical cyclones this season.”

Early warning
However, the minister sounded an early warning for extensive flooding which is typical of La Niña which may continue to affect the region to the end of 2022.

The RSMC outlook said: “This season’s TC (tropical cyclone) outlook is greatly driven by the return of a third consecutive La Niña event, which is quite exceptional and the event is likely to persist until the end of 2022.”

Additionally, the RSMC warns countries in its area of responsibility of the possibility of out-of-season cyclones.

The peak tropical cyclone season in the RMSC-Nadi region is usually during January and February.

“While the tropical cyclone season is between November and April, occasionally cyclones have formed in the region in October and May and rarely in September and June. Therefore, an out-of-season tropical cyclone activity cannot be totally ruled out,” the RSMC said.

“With the current La Nina event and increasing chances of above average rainfall, there are also chances of coastal inundation to be experienced. All communities should remain alert and prepared throughout the 2022/23 TC Season and please do take heed of any TC warnings and advisories, to mitigate the impact on life and properties.”

According to Usamate, Fiji Police statistics show that 17 Fijians have died from drowning in flooding which occurred between 2017 and the most recent cyclone season.

“The rainfall prediction for the duration of the second season is above average rainfall. That means we should expect more rain in the next six months.

“As you all know, severe rainfall leads to flooding and increasing the possibility of hazards such as landslides. In Fiji, flooding alone continues to be one of the leading causes of death during any cycle event,” Usamate said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

While news from Tonga is still disrupted following the massive undersea eruption and tsunami on January 15, it’s clear the island nation has suffered significant damage to housing stock and infrastructure.

Once initial clean-up work is done, the focus then turns to rebuilding — specifically, how to rebuild in a way that makes that housing and infrastructure stronger, safer and more resilient than before the disaster.

This is where the United Nations’ Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction comes into the picture. It advocates for:

The substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods and health and in the economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets of persons, businesses, communities and countries.

• READ MORE: Rebuilding after disasters: 5 essential reads
• Why the volcanic eruption in Tonga was so violent, and what to expect next

Beyond the framework, however, we have the lessons learned from previous disasters and recovery efforts in the same region — notably what happened in Fiji after Cyclone Winston in 2016.

These lessons can be applied to the Tonga rebuild.

Lessons from Cyclone Winston
Winston was a category 5 cyclone, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the South Pacific. When it approached Fiji’s largest and most populated island, Viti Levu, winds reached 230 km/h, with gusts peaking at 325km/h.

Over 60 percent of the Fijian population was affected, with around 131,000 people left homeless. The cyclone destroyed, significantly damaged or partially damaged around 30,000 homes, or 22 percent of households, representing the greatest loss to Fiji’s housing stock from a single event.

Notably, some models of the traditional Fijian bure survived the cyclone with minor or no damage.

Our research team from New Zealand followed and recorded the housing recovery. What we found could benefit Tonga as it faces reconstruction of so much housing stock.

As in Tonga, power, infrastructure and communication systems in Fiji were extensively damaged. Given that “building back better” involves applying higher structural standards than existed previously, we looked for evidence that Fiji was rebuilding in a more resilient and sustainable way.

Fiji carefully recorded and analysed data, employing systematic reconnaissance surveys and damage assessments to identify building performance, structural vulnerabilities and failure mechanisms, as well as community needs.

These assessments were done well, to international standards.

Understandably, Fijians were also aware of the need to reduce risks to housing from future cyclones. After the immediate post-cyclone humanitarian response, housing was their main concern. This became a key focus for government agencies as a way of demonstrating the recovery was under way and that communities were at the heart of the process.

Problems with rebuilding
We studied two main initiatives: a government-funded rebuilding programme for houses (the “Help For Homes Initiative”) and the rebuilding programmes led by various international and local NGOs.

Help For Homes provided credit for construction materials to people who had lost homes, assuming recipients met certain criteria related to household income, damage and location.

Communities were free to choose the basic type of dwelling, its interior design, external features and materials. Information and instructions about building best practices and standards were provided, but technical or practical support was limited.

Overall, the initiative had mixed reviews. On the one hand, people had autonomy over their future homes; if things went to plan, they liked the outcome. On the other, lack of building skills led to some poor-quality construction, and limited resources (mainly materials) pushed costs up.

A lack of suitable alternative building material also created problems. Material choice, material substitution, resource costs, low community technical expertise and low building standard knowledge are all issues Tonga might also face.

Some homeowners were left without the material they needed, and in some cases with only a partially rebuilt home.

The NGO rebuilding programmes, by contrast, usually employed their skilled workers to build and supervise construction activities, often with the help of community labour. But again, reviews were mixed, especially when the communities didn’t have sufficient input into the rebuilding process.

While housing design was largely standardised for quick construction, the NGO houses tended to be technically strong and more resilient to future hazard events.

The best of both worlds
The main lesson was that high levels of community involvement and strong technical support were key to building resilient, future-proofed houses. For Tonga, the Fijian experience offers the opportunity to apply that lesson in four principal ways:

• ensure the initial assessment process is thorough and up to international standards
• recognise that housing stock overall needs to improve, and commit to higher construction standards
• analyse local architecture and building practices for disaster-resistant features
• combine the best of government-led and NGO building systems to maximise community involvement while ensuring good technical support and building expertise.

Overall, to have the best chance of rebuilding with the resilience to withstand future shocks, Tonga will benefit greatly from a three-way partnership between the government, NGOs and local communities.

As advocated by the authors in their book Resilient Post-Disaster Recovery through Building Back Better, co-ordination of such partnerships should be government-led and include trusted local community leaders and a consortium of NGOs.

The authors acknowledge the collaboration of Diocel Harold Aquino (Associate Professor of Civil Engineering, University of the Philippines) and Sateesh Kumar Pisini (Principal Lecturer in Civil Engineering, Fiji National University) in the preparation of this article.

Dr Suzanne Wilkinson is professor of construction management at Massey University; Dr Mohamed Elkharboutly is lecturer in built environment at Massey University, and Dr Regan Potangaroa is professor of resilient and sustainable buildings (Māori engagement) at Massey University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

As Cyclone Cody got set to pummel Fiji in early January, students at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji were getting set to start a media training programme that would have them reporting on climate change.

“More than a little irony here,” says Doug Mitchell, founder and director of Next Generation Radio.

“We’ve experienced weather related challenges but nowhere close to this level. Add in the global pandemic, case numbers soaring, our students across the International Dateline and a cyclone, wow.

• READ MORE: Other reports on Next Generation Radio

“Still, we do what journalists do, we find a way to keep going. I can’t say enough how proud I am of the professional team and a very special hat-tip to our folks in Fiji. They remained, undaunted.”

Oceania is perhaps the most vulnerable region in the world to climate change, yet Pacific Islanders don’t often have the opportunity to tell the world their climate change stories – stories about declining fisheries, increased cyclone activity, displacement and more.

“There is a difference when you are a local reporting an issue that directly affects you, it is more impactful — to be able to report climate change effects to Pacific Islanders, by a Pacific Islander”, says Sera Tikotikovatu-Sefeti, one of nine USP students taking part in the Next Gen training programme.

The Next Gen Radio programme is a US-based digital media training initiative and the Fiji project was Next Gen’s first ever international project. The Next Gen USP stories can be heard here.

Cyclone set to threaten Fiji
And the arrival of Cyclone Cody was set to threaten Fiji the same day the project was due to begin — illustrating not only the urgency of climate change but the need to ensure the region’s journalists have the skills needed to tell those stories.

“The importance of our programme has never been more clear. We’re not doing traditional reporting but finding people who have a story to tell, and we let them tell it,” says Mitchell.

The choice of climate change as a theme for the workshops was not accidental.

A short video on NextGenRadio.

For Pacific islanders, land and ocean have huge economic, political and cultural significance – an ocean-based economy focused on maritime transportation, fisheries, extractive industries and tourism.

Yet these small island nations of the Pacific region are more vulnerable to the acute effects of climate change than any other region in the world.

And the importance of being able to tell those stories is paramount.

Ability to use any medium
Lice Movono is a Fijian journalist and serves as a mentor on the project.

“The ability to use any medium to tell the stories of the Pacific and its people and the challenges they face is so important,” she says.

“The Next Gen project offers senior journalism students and journalists working in the digital space to combine the strengths of radio broadcasting with available visibility tools to tell these stories effectively.

“Pacific people are oral people with rich traditional art and so this model of communications development is very relevant to the region’s storytellers.”

The students are being guided by a team of Next Gen staff and mentors — many of whom deployed to Hawai’i.

Each student is paired with a mentor and has support from a full team of audio producers, digital and visual editors and even editorial illustrators – all working remotely to guide the students through the storytelling process.

Everyone is literally in the virtual room as the storytelling gets underway.

“It’s great to be part of a team dedicated to increasing coverage of the Pacific on some of the most pressing issues facing Oceania. As a journalist indigenous to Micronesia who returned home to report, I am so humbled to be part of a team preparing the next generation to continue to make meaning,” says Thomas Mangloña, regional correspondent for KUAM on Guam and a project mentor.

Project an eye opener
Student Sera Tikotikovatu-Sefeti says the Next Gen project has been an eye opener.

“As a journalism student and writer, it has never occurred to me how much planning and prepping takes place before we actually go out into the field,” she says.

“The Next Gen project has given me the opportunity to learn from media specialists, illustrators and other work that goes into the field of radio and more. My impression of Next Gen is really just that – it is an extraordinary opportunity to collaborate with some of the best in the field, even if we are separated by time zones and miles apart, we connect through the same passion and this project gives us that opportunity to collaborate despite the distance. I’m learning so much and willing to learn so much more.”

The students will produce audio and digital stories highlighting the experiences of people in Fiji and Papua New Guinea whose lives are being affected by climate change.

The Next Gen programme is part of the Growing Independent Radio Broadcast Journalism in the Pacific Islands project that aims to bolster radio at both USP and across the Pacific and is administered by the East-West Center in partnership with the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.

“We are so excited to be working with journalists from USP and the whole Next Gen team,” said Scott Kroeker, project coordinator from the East-West Centre.

“The centre is always looking for opportunities to support media professionals in the Pacific Islands, and this project should have a direct and tangible impact on the careers of the young participants.”

Story telling prepared for Asia Pacific Report.

• Next Generation Radio
• Next Generation Radio stories from USP

In the wake of a violent volcanic eruption in Tonga, much of the communication with residents on the islands remains at a standstill. In our modern, highly-connected world, more than 95 percent of global data transfer occurs along fibre-optic cables that criss-cross through the world’s oceans.

Breakage or interruption to this critical infrastructure can have catastrophic local, regional and even global consequences.

This is exactly what has happened in Tonga following Saturday’s volcano-tsunami disaster. But this isn’t the first time a natural disaster has cut off critical submarine cables, and it won’t be the last.

• READ MORE: Tonga’s undersea communications cable could take weeks to repair
• Why the volcanic eruption in Tonga was so violent, and what to expect next
• Other APR reports on the tsunami

The video below shows the incredible spread of submarine cables around the planet – with more than 885,000 km of cable laid down since 1989. These cables cluster in narrow corridors and pass between so-called critical “choke points” which leave them vulnerable to a number of natural hazards including volcanic eruptions, underwater landslides, earthquakes and tsunamis.

Animation of spread of global submarine cable network between 1989 and 2023. Video: ESRI

What exactly has happened in Tonga?
Tonga was only connected to the global submarine telecommunication network in the last decade. Its islands have been heavily reliant on this system as it is more stable than other technologies such as satellite and fixed infrastructure.

The situation in Tonga right now is still fluid, and certain details have yet to be confirmed — but it seems one or more volcanic processes (such as the tsunami, submarine landslide or other underwater currents) have snapped the 872km long fibreoptic cable connecting Tonga to the rest of the world.

The cable system was not switched off or disconnected by the authorities.

This has had a massive impact. Tongans living in Australia and New Zealand cannot contact their loved ones to check on them. It has also made it difficult for Tongan government officials and emergency services to communicate with each other, and for local communities to determine aid and recovery needs.

Thank you all for the messages. No word from my Father or Family in Haapai. All communication in Tonga is out.
I have setup a fundraiser, link in bio for anyone wanting to help. Whilst I can’t assist family at this moment I will focus on country as more Information comes out. pic.twitter.com/1MCtnH5CNw

— Pita Taufatofua (@pitaTofua) January 15, 2022

Telecommunications are down, as are regular internet functions – and outages keep disrupting online services, making things worse.

Tonga is particularly vulnerable to this type of disruption as there is only one cable connecting the capital Nuku’alofa to Fiji, which is more than 800km away. No interisland cables exist.

It could be weeks before Tonga’s crucial undersea cable – which connects it to the world – is back online.https://t.co/5FmWdfJorc

— RNZ Pacific (@RNZPacific) January 17, 2022

Risks to submarine cables elsewhere
The events in Tonga once again highlight how fragile the global undersea cable network is and how quickly it can go offline. In 2009, I coauthored a study detailing the vulnerabilities of the submarine telecommunications network to a variety of natural hazard processes.

And nothing has changed since then.

Cables are laid in the shortest (that means cheapest) distance between two points on the Earth’s surface. They also have to be laid along particular geographic locations that allow easy placement, which is why many cables are clustered in choke points.

Some good examples of choke points include the Hawai’ian islands, the Suez Canal, Guam and the Sunda Strait in Indonesia. Inconveniently, these are also locations where major natural hazards tend to occur.

Once damaged it can takes days to weeks (or even longer) to repair broken cables, depending on the cable’s depth and how easily accessible it is. At times of crisis, such outages make it much harder for governments, emergency services and charities to engage in recovery efforts.

Many of these undersea cables pass close to or directly over active volcanoes, regions impacted by tropical cyclones and/or active earthquake zones.

In many ways, Australia is also very vulnerable (as is New Zealand and the rest of the world) since we are connected to the global cable network by a very small number of connection points, from just Sydney and Perth.

In regards to Sydney and the eastern seaboard of Australia, we know large underwater landslides have occurred off the coast of Sydney in the past. Future events could damage the critical portion of the network which links to us.

How do we manage risk going forward?
Given the vulnerability of the network, the first step to mitigating risk is to undertake research to quantify and evaluate the actual risk to submarine cables in particular places on the ocean floors and to different types of natural hazards.

For example, tropical cyclones (hurricanes/typhoons) occur regularly, but other disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions happen less often.

Currently, there is little publicly available data on the risk to the global submarine cable network. Once we know which cables are vulnerable, and to what sorts of hazards, we can then develop plans to reduce risk.

At the same time, governments and the telecommunication companies should find ways to diversify the way we communicate, such as by using more satellite-based systems and other technologies.

Dr Dale Dominey-Howes is professor of hazards and disaster risk sciences at the University of Sydney. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

RNZ News

Large waves in the Far North have forced 120 people to be evacuated as big swells from Cyclone Cody and the surge from yesterday’s volcanic eruption and tsunami in Tonga begin to hit Aotearoa New Zealand.

A tsunami hit the kingdom after undersea volcano Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai erupted for eight minutes, throwing clouds of ash into the sky, yesterday afternoon.

Waves flooded the capital Nuku’alofa, where video footage has shown water engulfing buildings.

• READ MORE: RNZ News live updates on the eruption and tsunami
• ‘Rain of stones’ and ‘deafening sound’ coming from Hunga’s volcanic activities reported in Tongatapu
• Why the volcanic eruption in Tonga was so violent, and what to expect next
• Other APR reports on the tsunami

The eruptions have been heard as booms or “thumps” across the Pacific, in Fiji, Niue, Vanuatu, and in New Zealand.

RNZ listeners from Northland, to Wānaka in Central Otago have reported hearing what sounded like gunshots, loud bangs, or sonic booms.

The National Emergency Management Agency issued an update this morning after yesterday’s tsunami warning that the advisory remains in place for the north and east coast of the North Island and the Chatham Islands, and has been extended to the west coast of the South Island.

Meanwhile, Cyclone Cody is expected to bring gale force winds and large swells to the eastern coast of Aotearoa’s North Island over the next few days.

Tidal surges in Far North
Police said they received a number of reports regarding tidal surges from people based in the Far North between 11pm and 12am, including Te Rere Bay and Shipwreck Bay.

Police, Fire and Coastguard also assisted with evacuations of boats moored at Tūtūkākā Marina last night.

A number of boats and moorings were damaged by large waves washing ashore.

Northland Civil Defence’s Murray Soljak said damage caused to boats in Tūtūkākā Marina last night were due to a single wave, however, surges along the coast were continuing at regular intervals.

A camp site at Mahinepua Bay was also inundated, about 50 people were in the camp at the time and all were accounted for.

Infrared Satellite Imagery shows how clear skies were fast replaced by the giant #eruption cloud over #Tonga in the past couple hours. pic.twitter.com/pxqA4LymlH

— WeatherWatch.co.nz (@WeatherWatchNZ) January 15, 2022

NZ Defence Force stands ready
RNZ Pacific reports there has been little contact with Tonga since the underwater eruption.

Communications with Tonga has been down since 6.30pm yesterday, with reports that power had been cut in the capital.

Tongan authorities should have a clearer picture today of the scale of the damage from Saturday’s volcanic eruption and tsunami.

The New Zealand Defence Force is currently monitoring the situation in Tonga, and said it stood ready to assist if requested by the Tongan government.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said “the images of the volcanic eruption in close proximity to Tonga are hugely concerning”.

Posting on her social media account, she added: “Communication as a result of the eruption has been difficult, but our Defence Force team and Ministry of Foreign Affairs are working as we speak to establish what’s needed and how we can help.”

She said an update would be given at 3pm NZT.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Tsunami videos out of Tonga this afternoon following the Volcano Eruption. pic.twitter.com/JTIcEdbpGe

— Jese Tuisinu (@JTuisinu) January 15, 2022

After years of empty promises by major emitters, it’s time to deliver on climate financing.

The world is warming. The science is clear. Most large, developed countries need to take ambitious action to reduce their emissions in order not to impact us further.

If they don’t, there is dire consequence, and in turn a significant rise in adaptation cost to us, those that did not cause this problem.

• READ MORE: Other COP26 reports

Some people call it paradise, but for me and thousands of Pacific people, the beautiful pristine Pacific Island region is simply home. It is our inheritance, a blessing from our forebears and ancestors.

As custodians of these islands, we have a moral duty to protect it – for today and the unborn generations of our Pacific anau.

Sadly, we are unable to do that because of things beyond our control. The grim reality of climate change, especially for many Small Island Developing States like my beloved Cook Islands, is evidently clear.

Sea level rise is alarming. Our food security is at risk, and our way of life that we have known for generations is slowly disappearing. What were “once in a lifetime” extreme events like category 5 cyclones, marine heatwaves and the like are becoming more severe.

No longer theory
These developments are no longer theory. Despite our negligible contribution to global emissions, this is the price we pay.

We are talking about homes, lands and precious lives; many are being displaced as we speak. I am reminded about my Pacific brothers and sisters living on remote atolls including some of those in our 15 islands that make up the Cook Islands — as well as our Pacific neighbours such as Kiribati, Tuvalu, Tokelau and many others, not just in the Pacific Ocean.

This family of small islands states is spread beyond our Pacific to across the globe.

Here in the Cook Islands, we are raising riverbanks to protect homes that for the first time in history are being reached by floodwater. We are building water storage on islands that have never before experienced levels of drought that we see now.

Over the years, the devastating impact of climate change has evolved from a mere threat to a crisis of epic proportion, now posing as the most pressing security issue to livelihoods on our island shores.

We live with undeniable evidence to back up the science. Most of you who follow the climate change discourse know our story. We have been saying this for as far as back as I can remember.

For more than 10 years of my political career, our message to the world about climate change has been loud and clear. Climate change is a matter of life and death. We need help. Urgently.

Given only empty promises
Today, I am sad to say that after all the years of highlighting this bitter truth, the discourse hasn’t progressed us far enough. All we have been given are promises and more empty promises from the world’s biggest emitters while our islands and people are heading towards a climate catastrophe where our very existence and future is at stake.

But we will not stop trying. As long as we have the strength and the opportunity to speak our truth to power, we will continue to call for urgent action. In the words of our young Pacific climate activists, “We are not drowning, we are fighting.”

As the political champion of Climate Finance for the Pacific Islands, I believe it is imperative that world leaders fast track large-scale climate finance that are easy to access for bold long-term and permanent adaptation solutions.

It is critical that COP26 begins discussions for a new quantifiable goal on climate finance. We need to do this now. Not tomorrow, next year or the next COP.

Last week when I addressed world leaders attending COP26, I urged them to consider a new global financial instrument that recognises climate-related debt, separately from national debt. We need to provide for innovative financing modalities that do not increase our debt.

We need to take climate adaptation debt off national balance sheets, especially since many Pacific countries are already heavily in debt. Why? Pacific countries contribute the least to global emissions and they should not have to pay a debt on top the consequences they are already struggling with.

Amortising adaptation debt
We need to consider amortising adaptation debt over a 100-year timeframe.

We must seek a new commitment that dedicates financing towards Loss and Damage that would assist our vulnerable communities manage the transfer of risks experienced by the irreversible impacts of climate change. We must also ensure that adaptation receives an equitable amount of financing as for mitigation.

I want to reiterate that adaptation measures by their very nature are long-term investments against climate impacts, thus we need to be talking about adaptation project lifecycles of 20 years, 50 years and 100 years, and more.

We are at a critical juncture of our journey where the fate of our beautiful, pristine homes is a stake. I call on all major emitters to take stronger climate action, especially to deliver on their funding promises.

Stop making excuses; climate change existed way before covid-19 when the promises of billions of dollars in climate financing were made.

It is time to deliver.

Mark Brown, Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, is also the Pacific Political Champion for Climate Finance at COP26. While not attending the COP this year due to covid-19 travel restrictions, Prime Minister Brown is providing support and undertaking this role remotely. This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

France and French Polynesia have agreed to jointly spend US$60 million to build 17 cyclone shelters across the Tuamotu archipelago.

This was announced on Manihi atoll, where the visiting French President Emmanuel Macron inaugurated the construction site for a shelter for the atoll’s 600 inhabitants.

Macron stopped on Manihi on his way back to Tahiti after a visit to Hiva Oa.

The French Polynesian President, Edouard Fritch, who is travelling with Macron, told local media that he asked Paris for another loan to cope with problems at the social welfare agency CPS and Air Tahiti Nui.

Wallis delegation to meet Macron in Tahiti
A delegation from Wallis and Futuna is expected to fly to French Polynesia today to meet President Macron.

According to the French Prefect in Wallis, Macron originally had Wallis and Futuna on his itinerary, but called off a visit because of the restrictions linked to the covid-19 pandemic.

Prefect Herve Jonathan told local television Macron had wanted to mark this week’s 60th anniversary of the territory’s current status as a French overseas collectivity.

He said the 14-member delegation would include representatives of the three traditional kingdoms as well as the Catholic archbishop.

In March, Wallis and Futuna had a covid-19 community outbreak, which prompted a strict lockdown.

An immediate immunisation drive inoculated about half the population within two weeks but almost half the population rejected the vaccination offer.

Four hundred people caught the virus and seven died.

Detention for Tahiti man insulting Macron
A man in French Polynesia has been taken into custody for questioning for insulting President Macron shortly after he had arrived at Tahiti’s airport.

Tahiti-infos reports the individual joined demonstrators lined up along the route of the presidential convoy to Tahiti’s hospital.

Demonstrations by anti-nuclear groups and the pro-independence opposition are banned for the duration of the president’s four-day visit.

Reports say the groups distanced themselves from the individual, saying he was not one of their members.

He is due in court and expected to be tried for insulting a person in public authority.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The intensity of Cyclone Ana surprised many in Fiji which was hammered with 140km/hr gusts and heavy rain over the weekend.

The storm developed into a Category 2 storm after initially sweeping past the Yasawas as a Category 1 system.

It proceeded to cut a swathe through the northern and eastern parts of Viti Levu, including Suva.

• READ MORE: Two pregnant women escorted through floodwaters
• Curfew safety uproar in Fiji as TC Ana strikes
• Other Cyclone Ana reports

As of Sunday the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) said a 49-year-old man had drowned and was the first casualty from the storm.

Five others were missing, including a three-year-old boy.

Correspondent Lice Movono, who lives in the capital of Suva, said there may have been a degree of complacency leading up to the storm.

“It was a lot stronger than we anticipated,” she said.

Storm ‘underestmated’
“I think that given we had been used to Cat Fives and Cat Threes and really everything above a Cat Three, I think that maybe I personally, and a lot of people, might have underestimated what a Category One storm was like.”

Movono said the fact some people were seen swimming or wandering around during the storm underlined this.

Earlier the NDMO had issued warnings for people to stay away from the water.

“We are in the midst of a cyclone with widespread flooding throughout the country, yet we continue to receive reports of members of the public, adults and children alike wandering around,” said NDMO Director Vasiti Soko.

The biggest concern for Fijian authorities seemed to be the floodwaters and burst rivers.

Lice Movono said many areas of the island had been inundated.

“This storm had been a Tropical Depression for a long time before it finally developed into a cyclone so it brought quite a lot of rainbands with it and so that had been concentrated in the interior parts of the island.

‘A lot of flood damage’
“We got a lot of flooding and a lot of damage from the flooding well before the cyclone even came into Fijian waters.”

A second cyclone is expected to hit Fiji’s main islands in the next 24 hours.

Tropical Cyclone Bina formed to the northwest of the country and its centre is forecast to go between Viti Levu and Vanua Levu.

It is expected to remain a category 1 system.

In the Coral Sea, Tropical Cyclone Lucas is moving as a category 2 system eastwards south of Solomon Islands.

Forecasters expected the Cyclone to reach New Caledonia’s Loyalty Islands by Wednesday.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

By Luke Rawalai in Suva

Fiji’s national curfew enforced by the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) on Friday evening has been dubbed as thoughtless and the “height of stupidity”.

National Federation Party president Pio Tikoduadua said it showed the government’s “disconnect with reality”.

“When NDMO director announced the imposition of a curfew, she said it was with the concurrence of the Prime Minister,” said Tikoduadua.

• READ MORE: One drowning and five missing in Fiji as Cyclone Ana hits
• Cyclone Ana moves over Fiji capital
• TC Ana hits Fiji: Nacula villagers evacuated to community hall
• Other Cyclone Ana reports

The NDMO said a 49-year-old man had drowned and five people were missing, including a three-year-old boy from Lautoka.

Tikoduadua said: “Fiji has never, in 50 years, imposed a curfew before a cyclone because we have always relied on the good sense of our people to look after themselves and each other in natural disasters.

“After the weekend curfew announcement, there was panic buying and selling of goods while hundreds of farmers and market vendors rushed to sell their goods at a loss because their weekend business was destroyed.

“As far as we know, the curfew was not lawful because no legal steps were taken under the NDMO Act to support it and certainly government did not say they had taken any.”

Government ‘completely isolated’
Tikoduadua said the government failed to think strategically because it was completely isolated from the people.

“The people of Fiji are finding it increasingly hard to believe that this disorganised bunch of people, who just make it up as they go along, is really their government,” he said.

“They need to remember these events the next time they go to the polls.”

NDMO director Vasiti Soko apologised to the public over the change to nationwide curfew hours.

The curfew hours have reverted to the daily 11pm to 4am window after a shift in the projected path of TC Ana. On Friday, the hours had been changed by Soko in the Western Division to 12pm Saturday to 6am on Monday, February 1, 2020.

Curfew hours for the Central, Eastern and Northern Divisions, were to have begun from 4pm Saturday until 4am on Monday.

Soko said every decision made by the office was in consultation with the Fiji Meteorological Service and other stakeholders committed to ensure the safety of all citizens.

Apologies for the ‘inconvenience’
“We apologise for the inconvenience caused as the analysis we received yesterday [Friday] entitled that an announcement should be made and due to the revisions made today [yesterday] on the path of the cyclone, the Emergency Committee decided to revert the curfew hours,” she said.

She said there was no way to predict the path and nature of a cyclone and NDMO would continue to make decisions based on the current situation.

“As of when the weather calls for a decision, then it will be made, but as it is, we will continue to update the public about all the restrictions and movements.”

Luke Rawalai is a Fiji Times reporter.

Fiji villagers of Nacula in Labasa whose homes are under water after the Labasa River broke its banks this morning have been evacuated to the community hall.

Elderly people and children were assisted by men from their homes and were transported on boats to the village hall.

The majority of the homes in the village are now inundated with floodwaters as the high tide came in after 8am today.

• READ MORE: Cyclone Ana intensifies as it moves onto Fiji’s Viti Levu

Heavy rain and strong winds continue to be experienced here in Labasa.

We will try to bring you more updates from the north when the weather situation eases.

The Fiji Times reports that Tropical Cyclone Ana had intensified into a category 2 system overnight with sustained winds of about 50 knots (95km/hr) gusting to 70 knots (130 km/hr) near the centre along with heavy rainfall and thunderstorms over most places.

According to the Fiji MET Office in Nadi, TC Ana centre is expected to be tracking east-southeastwards at about 15 km/hr and exiting the central part of Viti Levu (from Nausori to Pacific harbor) from midday to late afternoon today and heading towards Kadavu.

The weather office says regardless of where the centre passes or enters, places around and close to where the centre passes such as Yasawa And Mamanuca Group, Viti Levu, the western half of Vanua Levu, Lomaiviti Group, Vatulele, Beqa, Kadavu and nearby smaller islands and Moala group are to expect destructive storm force winds.

Impacts possible
Significant damage to trees, weak structures and houses, heavy damage to crops, power failures and small crafts may break moorings due to storms force winds.

Rain and thunderstorms will continue o cause floods to fiji’s roads, villages, towns and communities near streams, rivers and low lying areas.

Expect very high seas and heavy swells with breaking waves reaching the coastal areas that may cause possible coastal inundation and sea flooding especially during high tide.

Poor visibility in areas of heavy rain and thunderstorms.

For the rest of Fiji
Expect damaging gale force winds with average speeds of 85km/hr and momentary gusts of upto 120km/hr.

Impacts will be minor damages to weak structures, minor damages to houses of very light materials in exposed communities, damages to crops and vegetation with trees tilting due to gales.

Timoci Vula is a Fiji Times reporter.

More than 4000 people are still in evacuation centres in Fiji nearly two weeks after Tropical Cyclone Yasa struck.

Relief supplies are getting out to affected areas, but there is growing concern about the risk of disease.

Officials said 4035 people were in 84 evacuation centres, most of them in the northern island of Vanua Levu, which bore the brunt of the category five storm.

• READ MORE: Fiji declares state of disaster as TC Yasa wreaks havoc

Health officials are now concerned about the possible spread of diseases like leptospirosis and dengue fever – particularly with more heavy rain forecast this weekend.

The government said work crews and relief supplies have made it to all the affected areas, but items like water tanks and shelter are needed.

Permanent Health Secretary Dr James Fong told Fiji Village that it normally takes at least a month for these cases to develop after a cyclone.

Dr Fong said they had not received any reports of anything out of the ordinary as yet.

The Fiji Emergency Medical Assistance Team is in the Northern Division to carefully monitor the health situation after Tropical Cyclone Yasa.

The team are establishing a forward operating base.

An Australian navy ship is on the way to help, but its crew will be subject to strict coronavirus protocols with little public interaction.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The Vanuatu Council of Ministers has agreed at its meeting held in Luganville, Santo, to postpone the hosting of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders Meeting due in August 2020, reports the Vanuatu Daily Post.

The decision followed the recommendations of the National Task Force based on the “uncertainty and the economic impacts” the country is facing with the covid-19 pandemic and recent Tropical Cyclone Harold.

Vanuatu has had no reported cases of covid-19.

The government has mandated the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to liaise with the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat on the postponement.

The ministry will also negotiate with Fiji to seek a possibility for Vanuatu to host the meeting in 2021.

In Suva, the PIF secretariat today confirmed Vanuatu’s request to defer the 51st Forum Meeting scheduled for 4-7 August 2020 to next year in light of the covid-19 pandemic.

The chair of the Pacific Islands Forum and Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Kausea Natano, will consult the Forum Membership and advise on the next meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum.

Solomon Islands students studying at universities in Fiji have braved the rain to donate food, clothing and cash to 18 families who were badly affected by last month’s Tropical Cyclone Harold.

Solomon Islands Students Association (SISA) president Peter Maclean and Solomon Islands Education Attaché to Fiji Francis Tavava led the relief distribution programme this week with the help of an officer from the Fiji National Disaster Management Office.

Tavava said Solomon Islands students were honoured to be given the opportunity to reach out to the victims of the cyclone that devastated parts of Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu for almost two weeks.

READ MORE: Thousands of cyclone victims still in evacuation centre in Vanuatu

“We know that Fiji government has taken care of us over the past months, during the peak of covid-19 and TC Harold and we want to assist in a small way to give back to the people and government of Fiji for being good to us,” he said.

Tavava said the donation was made possible through the contributions from Solomon Islands students when the call was made after TC Harold.

NDMO Central branch district officer Vatia Vasuca said the government and operational centres had been working tirelessly to help TC Harold victims restore their lives and move forward.

He told the SISA disaster relief distribution team that the donation contributed well towards the government’s ongoing relief programme effort.

‘Assistance a bonus’
“Your assistance is a bonus to our ongoing effort and ambition to help the families get back on their lives and move forward,” he said.

Student leader Maclean said the damage caused by TC Harold was immense and the students were pleased to be able to visit affected families.

He said the visit was a memory students from the Solomon Islands would cherish.

“I must acknowledge the students who came up with the idea to raise funds and help our host government and its people who gave us an opportunity to come and study here,” he said.

“During each presentation it was mentioned to each affected families by the NMDO team leader that these were the humble donations from SISA. The term ‘Solomon Islands’ was consistently used and it was moving to see how respective families were so emotional to receive their necessities.

“This shows that the great value of kindness, respect and compassion of Melanesianhood is still in the hearts of our students,” Maclean said.

“My humble acknowledgement goes to all parents, families, people, leaders, mentors and communities back in Solomon Islands for positively nurturing these respective SISA students to be noble thinkers and actors.”

Ben Bilua is a final-year Solomon Islands journalism student at the University of the South Pacific’s Laucala campus in Suva, Fiji. He is also the online student editor of Wansolwara, USP Journalism’s student training newspaper and online publications.