NZealand says cyclone Vaianu to bring damaging winds, heavy rain and flooding

WELLINGTON: New Zealand’s national weather service warned Saturday to prepare for damaging winds, heavy rain and flooding in what it described as a potentially “life-threatening” event, as cyclone Vaianu approaches the country’s North Island.

The tropical cyclone is forecast to make landfall early Sunday, with residents living in coastal areas — prone to heavy rain, rising seawater and strong winds of up to 130 kilometers — being asked to evacuate as a precaution.

Winds in excess of 100kmh had already been recorded Saturday, New Zealand’s official forecaster MetService said in a statement on their website.

“The combination of damaging winds, heavy rain and coastal inundation makes this a multi-hazard, potentially life-threatening event,” it said, adding that the most “severe impacts” will be “highly dependent on the cyclone’s track”.

Local authorities have imposed a state of emergency in the most populous regions of the North Island including Tauranga, in which two landslides killed eight people in February.

Residents in Auckland were also issued a flood warning.

The city’s emergency operations centre controller Gareth Wallis warned this is “not the time for sightseeing or risk‑taking”.

“Closures are in place to protect lives and must be respected,” he said.

Alison Stern, director of Beach Point Apartments at Ohope Beach, is among hundreds of residents in Whakatane on the north-east coast to leave after an evacuation order issued by her local council.

“There are steep cliffs behind us and we are close to the water,” she told AFP by telephone on Saturday, as the holiday town waited for the storm front to make landfall.

She said memories of deadly cyclone Gabrielle that battered New Zealand in 2023 meant residents understood the risks and accept when “you have to leave for safety”.

Metservice has also issued a red wind warning, the highest alert, for Rotorua, Bay of Plenty and Coromandel Peninsula.