Although the storm has weakened from its previous cyclone status, it has already uprooted trees, damaged roads and brought down power lines.
Thousands of New Zealand homes were without power and flights were grounded on Monday as a tropical storm battered the north of the country.
Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty warned it would be a “critical day” due to the “highly dangerous” combination of high winds and heavy rain. A state of emergency has been declared in five regions in the north of the archipelago, including Auckland.
Some 58,000 people are without power on the North Island, with officials warning that restoring the grid could take several days.
“As long as the weather conditions remain this severe, it will be dangerous” to work on the network, said Kieran McAnulty.
Auckland, the country’s largest city (population 1.6 million), is barely recovering from flash floods that killed four people and forced thousands from their homes last month.
Air traffic disrupted
Wind gusts of up to 140km/h battered northern New Zealand, while Auckland Harbor Bridge was rocked by gusts of up to 110km/h.
Kieran McAnulty has said the government is considering declaring a national state of emergency for only the third time in the country’s history, “but we may not have to”.
The weather has also disrupted New Zealand’s transport network, with flights, trains and bus schedules all severely affected. Air New Zealand said it had canceled 509 flights so far, but traffic was expected to resume as normal on Tuesday.
The airline said that 10,000 international customers were affected by these cancellations, and that flights were not replaced for 6,500 of them.
