Wellington, Feb. 16, (dpa/GNA) - The death toll from a cyclone in New Zealand has risen to five, while an earthquake that hit late Wednesday has been upgraded, officials said Thursday.
Cyclone Gabrielle has caused widespread evacuations, power outages and damage to properties and infrastructure across large swathes of the country’s North Island.
Evacuations are still taking place on Thursday as rain continues to fall and rivers rise.
In a brief statement, police said a death in the Gisborne region was being investigated, taking the toll to five.
“The person is believed to have died after being caught in flood water.”
Three people died in the Hawke’s Bay area, including a child, while a firefighter was killed in a landslide near Auckland.
Eastern District Police district commander superintendent Jeanette Park said there had been 3,000 reports of people who could not be found. However, some people had been reported multiple times, she added.
She had been on the ground in some of the worst affected areas.
“It’s just unbelievable the devastation… When you see it, it’s hard to comprehend,” she told a media conference.
Meanwhile the magnitude of a strong earthquake that rocked most of New Zealand on Wednesday evening has been upgraded, although no damage or injuries were reported.
The quake, centred near the capital city of Wellington, was initially measured as magnitude 6.1 but was upgraded to a 6.3 by the country’s earthquake monitoring service Geonet on Thursday.
Geonet had recorded six aftershocks since the initial quake hit about 7:30 pm (0630 GMT).
“The depth (50 kilometres) is why no tsunami threat was issued, as this was too deep to perturb seafloor,” Geonet said.
GNA