The first glimpse we got of Cyclone Gabrielle over New Zealand. Photo: Twitter / NIWA
News of Cyclone Gabrielle came earlier in the week when it hit New Zealand's shores. While it was sweeping over the Pacific, North Islanders were warned it was heading their way.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins visits Auckland Transport's operation centre in Takapuna, North Shore as Cyclone Gabrielle makes landfall. Photo: RNZ / Ashleigh McCaull
Despite being downgraded from a severe category three tropical cyclone into a subtropical low on 11 February 2023, the forecast showed the impact would be strong.
Swells at Orewa Beach on 12 February, as Cyclone Gabrielle makes its way to New Zealand. Photo: Supplied / Chris Newson
Flooding begins as a result of Cyclone Gabrielle on Riverside Drive in Northland's Whangārei on 12 February, 2023. Photo: RNZ / Soumya Bhamidipati
Cyclone winds have caused major damage to the Northpower network, much of it from trees falling through lines. Photo: Supplied / Northpower / Facebook
As it made landfall, gale-force winds lashed the upper North Island, swells were seen on the coastlines, power was out to thousands, the Auckland Harbour Bridge had to temporarily shut, and flights, ferries and trains had to be cancelled and schools said they would shut too.
Residents navigate through flooded roads just before Waimauku, Auckland. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Essentials were stripped from some supermarket shelves as North Islanders prepared from Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: RNZ / Jonty Dine
A barge stuck on the rocks on Great Barrier Island. Photo: Supplied / Tryphena House
Manukau Heads Rd in the Awhitu Peninsula. Photo: Supplied / Hamish Simpson
A major slip on Manukau Heads Road. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
A large slip on Matakana Valley Road, blocking part of a route between Wellsford and Leigh. Photo: Soumya Bhamidipati
Slip damage in Titirangi, following the January floods in Auckland and February's Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Trees snapped off in Kumeū during the high winds that came with Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: Supplied / Jarred Bishop
Houses came toppling down in Karekare after 16 slips in the area due to Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: RNZ / Leonard Powell
Karekare locals with the aid of officials started clearing blocked roads after Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: RNZ / Leonard Powell
A number of homes on Shore Road in Remuera have been red-stickered after flooding and slips caused by Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: RNZ / Mohammad Alefashat
Panic-buying ensued as residents prepared for the worst, with Auckland even running out of sandbags.
Northland took a battering, and boats at the marina were drifting away in wild waves, requiring rescuing. Kate Malcolm, who runs Tutukaka Dive at the marina, told RNZ at the time, swells were topping 9m in some areas and even in sheltered bays buoys were recording readings of 8.2m.
A tree is uprooted near a sports fields in Stanmore Bay, Auckland. Photo: RNZ / Tom Taylor
Serious flooding in the Ruawai and Dargaville areas in Northland. Photo: Supplied / Dr Jason Smith
Flooding in Kaipara District. Photo: RNZ / Soumya Bhamidipati
ACE Rentals in Dargaville were out delivering excavators and sweepers through the night to help clear storm damage. Photo: Supplied/ ACE Rentals
Towns in and near the Bay of Islands area in Northland, including Moerewa, Kawakawa, and Paihia, have seen damage, debris, flooding, and tree falls from Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: Supplied / Joe Rapana
Photo: Supplied / Joe Rapana
Swells hitting Northland's shores as Gabrielle makes landfall. Photo: Supplied / Joe Rapana
A gum tree fell on a house in Kerikeri during Cyclone Gabrielle's severe gales and rain, damaging the home. Photo: Supplied / Monique Edwards
Towns in and near the Bay of Islands area in Northland, including Moerewa, Kawakawa, and Paihia, have seen damage, debris, flooding, and tree falls from Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: Supplied / Joe Rapana
Meanwhile, a state of emergency was declared for Waikato and Whakatāne in Bay of Plenty. (Auckland and the Thames-Coromandel regions had already extended their own states of emergency after earlier severe weather events.)
A slip covering the road at Sailor's Grave, near Tairua. Photo: Supplied/ Leonard Powell
Albert Street, Thames. Photo: RNZ / Finn Blackwell
A river of mud across Tararu Road in Thames. Photo: RNZ / Luka Forman
Power lines and trees down in Scott Street, Leamington, Cambridge, Waikato. Photo: RNZ / Libby Kirkby-McLeod
A significant slip on SH25 Thames Coast Road. Photo: Thames-Coromandel District Council
On 14 February, a firefighter was killed and another was critically injured and died later in hospital after a landslide in Auckland's Muriwai, where they had been helping people.
A national state of emergency was declared.
A house hit by a landslide in Muriwai. Photo: RNZ / Tom Taylor
A large uprooted tree near Muriwai. Photo: Rayssa Almeida
Slips at Muriwai following Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: RNZ / Finn Blackwell
A house collapsed after a slip on Rayner Road, Piha. Photo: Supplied
As daylight came, the devastation at Tai Rāwhiti and Hawke's Bay became more apparent, with limited communications, a major power substation outage, and evacuations and highway closures.
The small township of Fernhill, west of Hastings after the Ngaruroro River burst its banks. Photo: Supplied / Dawson Bliss
Slips and foliage blocking a one-way bridge in Rissington. Photo: Supplied / Adam Hedley
Serious damage in several parts of SH5 that connects Napier to Taupō. Photo: Supplied / Tony Alexander
The Waikare Bridge at Putorino - SH5 Napier-Taupō. Photo: Supplied / Tony Alexander
A large hole in SH5 following Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: RNZ / Phil Pennington
The township of Fernhill, west of Hastings after the Ngaruroro River burst its banks. Photo: Supplied / Dawson Bliss
Flood waters reached up to the roof of this house in Rissington, north west of Napier. Photo: Supplied / Adam Hedley
Police using a small boat rescued this resident from a flooded property in Meanee in Napier. Photo: Supplied / Bradley Goldfinch
The Waipaoa River, near Gisborne. Photo: Supplied/ Ray Worters
An uprooted gum tree behind a 'beware of falling branches sign' in Mārewa. Photo: Supplied / Paula Thomas
Forestry slash was strewn about in Tolaga Bay. Photo: Supplied / Bridget Parker
Tolaga Bay farmers reported forestry slash and land damage. Photo: Supplied / Bridget Parker
Within a period of 24 hours as Gabrielle swept over, Fire and Emergency received about 1800 storm-related incident calls. But slips, flooding and falling trees affected the ability of local authorities to assess some properties.
The then-Emergency Management Minister said it was estimated more than 2000 people - from Far North, Auckland, Hawke's Bay, Waikato and Bay of Plenty - were displaced by Gabrielle. But little was known about the situation in the east, with communications minimal and access hampered due to continued high winds and rain. And concerns grew for thousands of uncontactable family and friends.
A year on, some people remain displaced and their properties face an uncertain future.
Work on fixing multiple breakages in Gisborne's water supply. The city was at crisis level for water usage. Photo: Supplied/Gisborne District Council
A damaged road in Dartmoor, north-west of Napier after Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: Supplied / Sarah Grant
Flooding in Wairoa after the river burst its banks due to heavy rain from Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: Wairoa District Council's Emergency Controller
Damage to a bridge in the East Coast region. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
RNZ's visual journalist captured these images from just outside Te Karaka, near Gisborne. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
The road is flooded and washed out near Te Araroa, East Cape. Photo: Supplied
New slips on East Cape Road block access in and out near Te Araroa. Photo: RNZ / Māni Dunlop
Damage on a road at Kokopuru Station. Photo: Supplied / Max Tweedie
The Waipawa River in southern Hawke's Bay during Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
About five cows on Ray Phillips' farm in Tologa Bay did not manage to swim to safety, including one that got stuck in a tree during the flooding of Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: RNZ / Matthew Theunissen
SH2 just south of the closed bridge between Napier and Hastings. Apples were jammed between the cables where the water level used to be. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
A ruined apple crop at Pheasant Farm, Esk Valley. Photo: RNZ / Jemima Huston
Silt drying and cracking at Lesley Wilson's orchard on Swamp Road in Hawkes Bay after Cyclone Gabrielle Photo: RNZ/Sally Round
Farmers were among those greatly affected, with crops damaged and livestock dying in floodwaters. But one year on, and many farmers and orchardists are yet to return their land to productivity, hamstrung by silt smothering their properties.
An NH90 helicopter and crew recover people from the rooftops of their homes in Esk Valley, Napier. Photo: Supplied / NZDF
A shortage of supplies is evident, with empty shelves at Pak'nSave in Napier. Queues to get in stretched around the street, with the supermarket limiting the number of people inside at a time. Photo: RNZ / Krystal Gibbens
A helicopter hovers above a catamaran that drifted out to sea with a man on board. He was successfully rescued. Photo: Supplied / NZDF
An NH90 helicopter and crew recover people from the rooftops of their homes in Esk Valley, Napier. Photo: Supplied / NZDF
Hundreds have been rescued in the Hastings area, with the help of Defence Force helicopters, after floodwaters rose. Photo: Supplied / NZDF
A flooded orchard and apples strewn over the road just outside Hastings. Photo: RNZ // Angus Dreaver
Surf lifesaving crews rescue stranded Hawke's Bay residents. Photo: SUPPLIED
Hundreds were rescued including families scrambling to rooftops, a lone sailor found himself drifting out to sea near Whangarēi and seasonal workers stranded on rooftops due to the flooding in Napier.
Countless stories of ordinary people who did extraordinary things were heard recently when local councils invited hundreds to an Appreciation Day event to mark the anniversary of the cyclone.
Then Prime-Minister Chris Hipkins said the damage witnessed had "not been seen in a generation".
A damaged house in Wairoa Photo: Nathan McKinnon
State Highway 2 between Napier and Hastings. Photo: Waka Kotahi
Wairoa on Thursday from the air. Photo: Nathan McKinnon
A shed is knocked off its foundation on a flood-damaged property in Wairoa. Photo: Nathan McKinnon
A flooded Hawke's Bay orchard after Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: Supplied / Catherine Wedd
A damaged road in Dartmoor, north-west of Napier after Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: Supplied / Sarah Grant
Flood debris at Fernhill bridge and Ngaruroro Road in Hawke's Bay. Photo: Jonathan Bixley
Hawke's Bay Civil Defence asked for help from the National Emergency Management Agency after not being able to cope with the scale of damage in the region. Wairoa, a town of 8000, had no power or telephone service, no drinking water supply, and very limited amounts of food.
Eventually, supplies were being transported to the affected communities. And now the Hawke's Bay town is set to hear about a flood protection plan, after decades of warning.
Flooding in Napier, as seen from the air. Photo: NZDF / supplied
One of many houses on Domain Crescent in Muriwai destroyed by a slip Photo: supplied by Jacco Foote
A flood-damaged car seen in Gisborne. Photo: RNZ/Nathan McKinnon
Soldiers from 2CSSB and 5/7 take the MHOV to Moteo Marae, which is located near Puketapu to the west of Napier Photo: NZDF / supplied
Flood-damaged property at Pakōwhai Road, Hastings. Photo: Antonio Della Barca
The death toll from Gabrielle reached 11, with the youngest victim being two years old.
A few months after the cyclone, MBIE estimate the cost of rebuilding after the cyclone to be more than $13 billion across the country. Despite government funding, local councils in affected regions say there's still a shortfall in being able to afford the full price tag of road repairs.
The cleanup continues in Te Karaka, a settlement inland from Gisborne, in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: RNZ / Sam Rillstone
Esk Valley on 20 February following Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: RNZ/ Nick Monro
Esk Valley on 20 February following Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: RNZ/ Nick Monro
Esk Valley on 20 February following Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: RNZ/ Nick Monro
Esk Valley on 20 February following Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: RNZ/ Nick Monro
Esk Valley on 20 February following Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: RNZ/ Nick Monro
A man whose Esk Valley home was flooded was living in a shack on the Napier shore line. Photo: RNZ / Soumya Bhamidipati
Slash on Napier Beach's coast line on 20 February, after Cyclone Gabrielle swept through the area. Photo: RNZ / Soumya Bhamidipati
Produce - including apples, onions, pumpkin and pineapple - rotting at Napier Beach's shore on 20 February, 2023. Photo: RNZ / Soumya Bhamidipati
Damage, rubble and carnage left over in Eskdale after Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: RNZ / Jordan Dunn
Damage, rubble and carnage left over in Eskdale after Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: RNZ / Jordan Dunn
Rubbish and debris from Cyclone Gabrielle piles up at Pohutukawa Drive, Eskdale. Photo: RNZ / Tim Brown
Aerial shots of Napier and surrounds after Cyclone Gabrielle on 20 February, 2023. Photo: RNZ/ Tess Brunton
Aerial shots of Napier and surrounds after Cyclone Gabrielle on 20 February, 2023. Photo: RNZ/ Tess Brunton
Aerial shots of Napier and surrounds after Cyclone Gabrielle on 20 February, 2023. Photo: RNZ/ Tess Brunton
