New Zealand residents on alert as ex-Cyclone Gabrielle heads their way
Waves crash against the cliffs at an Auckland beach as a cyclone hits the upper parts of New Zealand, on Sunday. Photo: AP/NZ Herald
Residents of Australia’s Norfolk Island are cleaning up after Cyclone Gabrielle, heading to New Zealand, battered the tiny external territory in the Pacific Ocean.
Gabrielle, now downgraded to a sub-tropical low pressure system, passed over Norfolk Island on Saturday night with the storm’s “most destructive winds” missing the island, the Australian outpost’s emergency management authority said.
In New Zealand, 1460 kilometres to the south, the nation’s weather forecaster warned of the storm’s impact from Sunday.
Last month its biggest city Auckland was hit by record rainfall that sparked floods and killed four people.
Air New Zealand on Saturday cancelled several North Island flights scheduled from Sunday to Tuesday ahead of the expected arrival of bad weather.
In Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology said a cyclone watch had been declared for coastal communities from Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpenteria to the Queensland border.
“The most likely scenario for this tropical low is for it to remain below cyclone strength, with gales to the south. However, depending on how long the system is over the Gulf of Carpentaria waters, the tropical low may develop into a tropical cyclone early on Tuesday morning,” the BoM said on Sunday.
A flood watch is current for parts of the Top End and across far northern Queensland, as flooding continues to affect transport networks and isolate communities including Birdsville, Doomadgee, Burketown and Gregory.
On Norfolk Island, which covers just over 34 square kilometres in the Pacific Ocean, between New Caledonia and NZ, authorities were clearing debris and trees from roads and restoring power knocked out overnight.
“There is still considerable clean up to be undertaken and it may take a while for services such as power to be restored,” Emergency Management Norfolk Island said.
Its 2000 residents, some descended from British sailors who mutinied on the HMS Bounty in the 18th century, had been “extremely fortunate” with the passage of the cyclone, the agency said, as winds eased and an all-clear was issued.
Tweet from @AucklandCDEM
As Gabrielle tracks south, Auckland Emergency Management has warned the city is likely to be hit by strong winds on Sunday night, with gusts of up to 140km/h or higher predicted from Monday.
“This system poses a very high risk of extreme, impactful, and unprecedented weather over many regions of the North Island from Sunday to Tuesday,” weather forecaster MetService said on Sunday.
