Power has been restored to most of Rotorua and Taupō.
More than 9000 households were initially without power yesterday morning after Cyclone Gabrielle swept through the region leaving a trail of destruction.
Just after 5pm, only 51 homes in Rotorua were without power and 270 in Taupō, mostly due to access issues or more complex damage to the network.
In Hastings, 5,000 households have been restored but 9,900 were still without power. In Napier, this number is still high, close to 32,000 were without power due to limited supply from Transpower’s national grid.
“It’s great that power has been restored to much of Rotorua and Taupō,” Unison relationship manager Danny Gough said.
“We do however face ongoing challenges in the Hawke’s Bay with a number of access issues due to slips, flooding and damaged infrastructure.
“While good progress has been made in large parts of Hastings and Havelock North, outages continue in other areas, especially in Napier due to limited supply from Transpower’s national grid.
“Communities should be prepared to be without power for an extended period. I want to reassure our customers that Unison is working very closely with Transpower NZ to develop a restoration plan. This includes exploring all alternatives to reconnecting customers as quickly as possible.”
Internet customers in Rotorua, Tauranga and Taupō are also experiencing outages to their ultra-fast broadband services.
Vodafone chief executive Jason Paris, via his Twitter account, said there were 272 cell sites down from the cyclone, “mainly due to power”.
He said the fibre link in Taupō, Tauranga and Rotorua was being fixed and some services should start again around 8.30am The Vodafone website said the start time of the outage was 8.41pm on Tuesday and was under investigation.
People have taken to social media saying their connection was still down this morning in various locations.
The forecast for Wednesday is for fine weather with some strong winds, and all watches and warnings for the Bay of Plenty have been lifted.
According to MetService data, Rotorua received 100 millimetres of rain in the 24 hours to 6am Tuesday, while in the Western Bay of Plenty there was up to 160mm. Wind gusts reached a peak of 85 kilometres per hour at 11pm in Rotorua and 91km/h in Tauranga.
Image 1 of 16: Government Gardens.
Road closures and rubbish/recycling
Rotorua Lakes Council said this morning crews were inspecting all urban roads and clearing tree debris from various sites starting in Ngongotahā and working anti-clockwise around the urban area zones.
Progress had been made to clear roads but the “situation changes rapidly,” the council said.
Rubbish collection will operate as normal today but there may be delays as drivers navigate closed roads. Glass recycling and yellow bin recycling collection is cancelled today due to processing disruptions caused by the weather.
The yellow and blue bin recycling is processed in Auckland and Coromandel which has experienced disruptions to normal operations so please keep these bins in, the council said.
“For those areas affected by the recycling cancellations, please hold onto your recycling until your next scheduled collection day. Alternatively, you can take your recycling to the Recycling Centre on Te Ngae Rd.”
Normal collections will resume tomorrow (Thursday 16 Feb).
All council sports fields are open, but caution is advised as crews continue to clean up tree debris.
Hatupatu Dr remains closed due to several trees that have fallen over with a large tree near the end blocking the whole road. There is a lot of debris on the road and larger equipment is required to clear and open the road.
Dods Rd is closed due to a large underslip from previous weather events near start of the road.
A large treefall blocked Hamurana Rd last night but this has now been cleared.
Northern Area – cyclic sweeping crew will begin sweeping windblown debris of various roads.
Tarawera Rd - clearing treefall and slips. This crew will continue onto other surround roads during the day i.e., Millar Rd, Okareka Loop Rd etc.
Totara Rd – completing clean-up of large treefall. This crew will then move onto Poutakataka and Whirinaki Valley Rd’s.
Tutukau Rd – clearing slips and treefalls. This crew will then move onto Plateau Rd, East Rd and Longview Rd.
Southern Area – cyclic sweeping crew will begin sweeping windblown debris of various roads.
Lakes and forest warnings
Lakes in the Bay of Plenty region were reported to have risen by between 50mm to 100mm.
A temporary do not swim alert was in place for all of the Bay of Plenty region for two to three days after heavy rain as many swim spots in these areas will have a high risk of contamination.
No signage will be erected as this is general advice for all waterways.
Rotoru Lakes Council said the Tītokorangi and Whakarewarewa Forests opened at midday yesterday, however the Department of Conservation tracks were still closed.
“There will likely be fallen trees and huge amounts of debris and possibly slips on many of the trails, so ride, run and walk with caution - expect to stop at any point on any trail.”
State of national emergency
In response to what he called an “unprecedented weather event”, Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty signed a declaration of a state of national emergency at 8.43am.
It applied to areas that had declared regional states of emergency: Northland, Auckland, Tairāwhiti, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, and Hawke’s Bay, with the Tararua District later added.
“This declaration will enable the Government to support the affected regions, provide additional resources as they are needed, and help set the priorities across the country for the response,” McAnulty said.
Cyclone Gabrielle knocked down trees across Rotorua, including in Kuirau Park. Photo / Andrew Warner
The Rotorua Lakes Council reported that from 4:30pm Monday to 1:40pm Tuesday, its customer centre received close to 400 calls for information, support and requests for service.
The council reported crews attended to at least 15 treefalls and slips causing blockages on local roads throughout Tuesday.
This included trees that came down on Sala St, forcing the closure of the road at both ends, near the entrances to Scion and, at the other end, the Rotorua cemetery.
On Amohau St, a burst water main left 20 properties without water. The council reported water was restored to 15 of the homes by midday. It posted on its website that residents in the affected area had been visited and water was delivered to them.
Schools closed by storm
The effects of Cyclone Gabrielle were also felt by schools in the area.
Whakarewarewa School principal Jackie Meha posted on the school’s Facebook page on Tuesday that the school would be closed for the day because a power pole in the area had fallen overnight and the school had no power. Power was restored later in the day.
Otonga Primary School closed its doors for the day due to fallen trees on its grounds, including one that was uprooted.
Glenholme School and Aorangi School were also closed on Tuesday.
Evacuations
Bay of Plenty Civil Defence and Emergency Management group public information manager Lisa Glass said people had sheltered in emergency centres and marae in the region overnight.
Glass said a number of those people decided to evacuate but there were also some door-to-door evacuations for properties in Little Waihī overnight, as well as the evacuations earlier on Monday in Whakatāne and Ōpōtiki.
Highway updates
State Highway 2 between Gisborne and Opotiki and SH35 between Gisborne and Potaka is closed.
As of 4pm Tuesday, a Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency spokesperson said State Highway 29 in the Lower Kaimais had reopened.
Likewise, SH33 had fully reopened. Road closures were still in place on SH30, SH2 (at Karangahake Gorge and the Matata Straights) and SH35 from Hicks Bay to Gisborne.
Paper delivery impacted
A majority of Rotorua Daily Post newspapers were not delivered to subscribers on Tuesday morning due to the cyclone’s impacts.
All subscribers will be credited automatically and NZME apologises for the disruption.
What is a state of emergency?
The Bay of Plenty, including Rotorua, was put under a regional state of emergency on Monday night, but on Tuesday morning a state of national emergency was declared by the Government in response to the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle.
This covers the regions across New Zealand that have declared regional states of emergency.
This declaration did not affect the response that was already under way in the Bay, it just allowed response teams the ability to move national resources across the country to help those areas that have been most affected.
This declaration enabled the Government to support regions that have been most impacted and set priorities across the country for the response.
