Cyclone: NZDF across the regions

Click here(external link) for the latest live updates on the support to Auckland and the upper North Island following severe weather.

Around 150 NZDF personnel on the ground, including a mix of vehicles, are assisting in Civil Defence and emergency responses to Cyclone Gabrielle today.

Overnight our Defence Force personnel across the Northland, Auckland, Thames/Coromandel and BOP and Hawkes Bay regions have been working alongside Regional Emergency Management Agencies and partners to provide continued support and response assistance.

In Northland three heavy vehicles and an NZDF response team personnel are supporting Fire and Emergency New Zealand with evacuations in the Dargaville area, after the Dargaville River burst its banks.

In the Auckland region NZDF responded to a request to support Fire and Emergency New Zealand, New Zealand Police and St Johns at Muriwai Beach on Auckland’s West Coast in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Approximately 30 NZDF personnel worked during the night to assist with the relocation and delivery of emergency supplies to Muriwai and Waimauku War Memorial Shelter. This morning their work continues with conducting evacuations from the Muriwai Surf Lifesaving Club to Civil Defence Centres in Auckland.

We also have personnel from our NZ Army Reserve Battalions providing evacuation support in Opotiki, Te Kaha, Napier, Whitianga and Thames, with liaison officers in Gisborne, Ruatoria, Napier and New Plymouth.

Frigate HMNZS Te Mana is conducting a Search and Rescue operation, responding to the activation of a locator beacon from a yacht in distress in the vicinity of the Hen and Chickens Island group.

Yesterday 24 personnel from the NZ Army’s 3/6 Battalion were out helping engineers from the Thames-Coromandel District Council in sandbagging a low spot on the beachfront of Buffalo Beach in Whitianga. They also helped establish a welfare centre and assisted in building inspection.

In the last two days teams have assisted in the establishment of Civil Defence centres and shelters across Auckland including delivering more than 50 pallets of emergency supplies including blankets, tea, coffee, air mattresses, sleeping bags and warm clothes.

NZ Defence Force liaison officers are now co-located with emergency management staff at Auckland Civil Defence centres.

Over the past week Defence Force personnel have been out in Auckland communities helping remove flood-damaged waste from the streets and we have had more personnel assisting with this over the past few days ahead of the forecasted weather.