New Zealand National Weather Service on Saturday warned residents to brace for damaging winds, heavy rain and subsequent flooding, which it described as potentially “life-threatening”as Cyclone Vaiana approaches the North Island of the country. TASR informs about it according to the report of the AFP agency.
- New Zealand’s North Island is threatened by tropical cyclone Vaiana with life-threatening conditions.
- The cyclone is expected to make landfall early Sunday morning local time.
- Coastal areas face the threat of flooding, rising sea levels and 130 kilometer winds.
- The meteorological service has already recorded winds exceeding 100 kilometers per hour.
- Cyclone Gabrielle killed eleven people in New Zealand in 2023.
Forecasters expect the tropical cyclone to make landfall early Sunday morning local time. Authorities have therefore called on residents of coastal areas threatened by intense rainfall, rising sea levels and strong winds of up to 130 kilometers per hour to evacuate.
Meteorological service MetService already on Saturday recorded wind speed exceeding 100 km/h. Local authorities have declared a state of emergency in the most populated regions of the North Island, including the city of Tauranga, where in February, eight people died in landslides.
Residents of Auckland have also received a flood warning. The city’s head of crisis management, Gareth Wallis, said that “now is not the time for (tourist) prospects or risking (health)”. MetService has issued the highest level of warning for the city of Rotorua, the Bay of Plenty region and the Coromandel Peninsula. New Zealand was also hit by a devastating cyclone (Gabrielle) in 2023. Eleven people lost their lives as a result of the devastating tropical storm causing widespread flooding and landslides.
