Prime Minister Chris Hipkins at the Emergency Civil Defence Centre in the Trusts Stadium at Henderson as cyclone Gabrielle smashed into New Zealand. Photo / Dean Purcell
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins at the Emergency Civil Defence Centre in the Trusts Stadium at Henderson as cyclone Gabrielle smashed into New Zealand. Photo / Dean Purcell
EDITORIAL
Cyclone Gabrielle arrived on Valentine’s Day with a spiteful gift that well exceeded dire forecasts.
Shortly after the 8.43am national State of Emergency announcement, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the only course was to reciprocate. “We will be throwing everything at this,” he said.
Immediate thoughts are to thosewho have lost so much. As of yesterday afternoon, two people were missing, thousands were displaced, homes and businesses destroyed and entire regions were cut off by smashed roads and without electricity.
Cyclone Gabrielle caused this slip on Scenic Drive in Titirangi. Photo / Wayne Edwards
Comparisons to Cyclone Bola of almost exactly 35 years ago are inevitable but may prove irrelevant in a very short time. However, yesterday’s footage of streets and paddocks under floodwaters across Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay are eerily reminiscent of Bola.
The $65 million worth of damage from Bola in 1988 - equivalent to $200m today - is highly likely to be overtaken many times. This time, Auckland and Northland were already sodden from record-breaking rainfall on Anniversary Weekend. Loosened ground and damaged infrastructure had been given no chance to recover.
Flooding brought traffic to a stand-still on Auckland's Southwestern motorway as commuters tried to get home on January 27. Photo / Dean Purcell
Bola was nullified by a stationary trough over New Zealand while Gabrielle has been fed by warmer sea temperatures, meaning it can retain more moisture and endure longer.
A national State of Emergency has been used only twice before: after the 2011 Christchurch Earthquake and the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. According to one definition, for a national State of Emergency to be declared, the situation must be an emergency under the CDEM Act and meet three legal tests.
It had to be as a result of any emergency, whether natural or otherwise; one that caused or could cause loss of life, injury, illness, or distress “or in any way endangers the safety of the public”; and could not be dealt with by emergency services, “or otherwise requires a significant and coordinated response under the CDEM Act”.
Hipkins yesterday paid tribute to some of the exemplary courage already shown and said it would take some time to know the extent of the damage.
A fallen tree rests power lines on Sala St in Rotorua after being knocked down by Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Andrew Warner.
As well as people’s immediate needs and the urgency to restore services and supply lines, costs will continue to mount as damage to livestock and crops will be accounted for.
“The honest answer is, it’s not going to be cheap,” Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty said when asked about the damage yesterday.
Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty, right, with Civil Defence Emergency Management acting director Roger Ball after declaring a national State of Emergency. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Opposition leader Christopher Luxon did well to swiftly take the situation off the political table when he posted on social media: “National supports the nationwide state of emergency”.
In the longer term, Luxon has also said he will discuss supporting climate adaptation legislation in a bipartisan way.
Hipkins said those isolated and watching his briefing yesterday should know that “we are wrapping them in support from afar”.
“We all know how we would feel in those circumstances.”
This situation is beyond politics. Right now, New Zealanders need to park their differences and help pull each other through. Gabrielle’s gift is an opportunity to show what this shattered and drenched nation is made of.
