Joseph Ahuriri who has not been seen for more than two weeks. Photo: Supplied / NZ police
Police are renewing their appeals for sightings of a man who disappeared about the time Cyclone Gabrielle hit Hawke's Bay and the East Coast.
Joseph Ahuriri, 40, left home in Gisborne on Monday 13 February around 4pm, heading to Napier, and intending to return around 2am the following day.
He was driving a white Toyota Hilux, registration DZH116.
Due to the weather conditions, brought about by the cyclone hitting the region, Ahuriri stayed at a hotel on Marine Parade, in Napier, police said in a statement today.
Joseph Ahuriri's Toyota Hilux. Photo: Supplied / NZ police
He was seen leaving the hotel at 4.28am on 14 February and has not been seen or heard from since.
His vehicle was seen on CCTV in Havelock North - heading south - at 5.15am, and did not return.
State Highway 2 north back to Gisborne would have been impassable at this time due to flooding.
Despite Ahuriri not being seen since the poor weather began, police no longer believe his disappearance is related to the cyclone.
They, along with his whānau, wanted to know where he was and that he was safe and have appealed to the public for information.
Police can be contacted via 105 or on their website quoting file number 230225/2804.
On Monday police said it was unlikely Ahuriri's disappearance was cyclone-related, but it could not be ruled out.
At one stage he was on the police's list of uncontactable people in the wake of the cyclone but they have amended his status to a missing person.
