It provides local Civil Defence teams with the powers they might need during the early stages of the recovery, such as clearing roads and disposing of dangerous materials.
The period would also enable remedial works to be carried out, for example, restoring access to cut-off properties or making temporary infrastructure repairs.
McAnulty said the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) had met with the affected Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) groups about the move to a national transition period.
“This is similar to what was done after the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake.”
He said NEMA was also working with affected districts in Wairarapa to understand whether they should also be included in the national transition period. A decision on this was expected in the next week.
“Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay are still in an active response phase and will remain under a state of national emergency at the present time.
“The devastating impact of Cyclone Gabrielle is still being felt by communities across the northern and eastern parts of the North Island.
“As the immediate response to Cyclone Gabrielle comes to an end, we need to make decisions about how best to support local communities and CDEM groups to make the transition to recovery.
“It’s going to be a long haul, and we are committed to a locally-led recovery, supported by the central government. The transition period will ensure the planning is coordinated for building back better.”
McAnulty said he acknowledged the extraordinary efforts of everyone contributing to what was “one of New Zealand’s most significant emergency responses”.
He said he wants to give assurance to impacted communities that the Government would continue to stand alongside them for “as long as it takes to recover from the impact of Cyclone Gabrielle”.
The State of National Emergency was declared for six regions on February 14: Northland, Auckland, Tairāwhiti, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, and Hawke’s Bay.
Cyclone-ravaged East Coast is slowly reconnecting with the rest of the country as roads begin to rebuild and work to clear silt from the property continues.
The official death toll from Cyclone Gabrielle is 11; with the majority of those deaths in Hawke’s Bay.
Areas such as Esk Valley, Puketapu, Dartmoor and Pakowhai in Hawke’s Bay were devastated by the raging flood waters, silt and mud when the cyclone struck.
People living in small settlements along the East Coast in Tairāwhiti were without a stable form of connection for weeks.
Wairoa Mayor Craig Little sent out pleas for supplies as the region was completely isolated with limited supplies.
National electricity supplier Transpower had to call for a national grid emergency for eastern districts when one of its substations became submerged during the storm.
In a re-analysis by a meteorologist of head-to-head pressure values, Gabrielle was found to be more intense than Bola – a system that similarly devastated the North Island’s East Coast – and also Giselle, largely remembered for creating ferocious storm conditions that sank the inter-island ferry Wāhine in Wellington Harbour.
Infometrics principal economist Brad Olsen said the cost of Cyclone Gabrielle coming on top of January’s Auckland floods was likely to add up to more than $1 billion in repairs.
Speaking to Stock Takes on Tuesday afternoon as the cyclone headed further south and just hours after a State of National Emergency was declared, Olsen said the flooding alone was likely to cost $500 million for building repairs and vehicle replacements.
“That’s before we look at all the infrastructure costs. If you look at how Cyclone Gabrielle has ripped through the country ... [and] the fact that you’ve got so much of Northland that’s cut off, our transport infrastructure has been hammered.
“I’d expect you’ll see something even worse than that across a number of parts of the North Island through the cyclone. We are getting up there ... very big numbers.”
