Thousands of people are still missing a week after Hurricane Gabriel battered New Zealand’s North Island, with the death toll rising to 11 on Sunday.
The scene of destruction after the storm in New Zealand / Getty Images
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WELLINGTON: Thousands of people are still missing a week after Cyclone Gabriel ravaged New Zealand’s North Island, with the death toll rising to 11 and dozens injured on Sunday. The storm hit the upper North Island on February 12 and degenerated after moving to the east coast.
Prime Minister Chris Hopkins has called Gabriel New Zealand’s worst natural disaster of this century. He expressed his condolences to the families of those killed in the cyclone and said that the nation has seen such a devastating storm after generations. The cyclone has wreaked havoc in the country of 5.1 million people. Ten and a half thousand people became homeless while property was also damaged.
According to the report of the World News Agency, after the storm, emergency has been imposed across the country and the army has been assigned for relief work. Although the intensity of the typhoon has abated slightly, bodies and injured people are still being found during rescue operations.
According to the report, the military helicopters moved the citizens stuck on the roofs of the houses to a safe place. Yesterday, 4 dead bodies were recovered from the roofs during rescue operations. Rescuers recovered two more bodies, one of which was that of an infant, on Saturday.
Two more people have died in the hard-hit Hawke’s Bay region in post-storm conditions, bringing the death toll to 11, police said on Sunday. Authorities are unable to contact 5,608 people across the country, while 1,196 have reported that they are safe.
Emergency officials and the military on Saturday dropped essential supplies by helicopter to people stranded after Hurricane Gabriel. It should be noted that the storm washed away fields, bridges and livestock and thousands of houses were submerged in water. About 62,000 households were without power across the country on Saturday. Of these, about 40,000 households live in Hawke’s Bay with a population of 170,000.
