More than 5,600 people remain without communication, while more than 1,000 residents in areas cut off by damaged roads reported being safe. Some 225,000 New Zealanders lost power, the majority in the town of Hawkes Bay.
Rescuers, with support from the military, deliver food and emergency supplies to remote areas using helicopters.
On February 14, the New Zealand authorities declared a state of emergency, the third time in the country’s history.
Cyclone Gabriel hit New Zealand on February 12. The main blow of the elements fell on the northern regions of the island nation, as well as its eastern coast. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins called Gabriel New Zealand’s biggest natural disaster this century.
