Flooding, power outages and hundreds evacuated as Cyclone Vaianu hits New Zealand’s North Island | New Zealand

Cyclone Vaianu has made landfall New Zealand’s North Island on Sunday, which saw flooding, power outages and forcing hundreds to evacuate.

The cyclone crossed the coast near the Maketu Peninsula, packing damaging winds of more than 130 km/h (80 mph), heavy rain and large swells, national weather provider MetService said, describing Vaianu as a “life-threatening” system.

Authorities placed several regions under emergency declarations and issued “red” level wind warnings, which are reserved for only the most extreme weather events.

The cyclone was tracking the edges of the North Island and spared Auckland, the country’s most populous city, some of the worst conditions, Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell said. But stronger winds and swells were still expected after its afternoon landfall.

“It’s moved more to the edges and more to the east, which means we haven’t seen quite the intensity that we prepared for or that we thought we were going to run into. So that’s good news,” Mitchell said.

“In terms of what we’re going to expect over the next 12 hours, we’re going to see a little bit more intensification as the cyclone starts to descend and get closer.”

The combination of the afternoon high tide and large swells from the storm could cause coastal flooding, Mitchell warned.

“The relevant time is really from 14:00 this afternoon (0800 GMT) onwards when we have high tide combined with those big swells,” he said.

The cyclone forced hundreds of residents to evacuate and knocked out electricity to 5,000 homes, with power restored to about 2,000, he said.

Authorities in the coastal Whakatane district reported a significant amount of damage as Vaianu passed through, with mandatory evacuations carried out at 270 properties.

New Zealand military personnel and heavy equipment were also deployed to assist with evacuations.

MetService said it recorded 130km/h wind gusts in some areas, 24-hour rainfall totals of more than 100mm (4in) in the city of Whangarei and wave heights of more than 6m (20ft).

Air New Zealand said in a statement that it had canceled more than 90 turboprop flights, mainly from local North Island airports.

“Domestic aircraft and international services are operating as scheduled, although there are delays due to the weather conditions,” the airline said.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand said it had responded to more than 100 calls for assistance related to wind damage and flooding.

Conditions will ease as Vaianu works off the North Island before exiting Hawke’s Bay on Sunday evening, MetService said.

“Things do improve from tonight and tomorrow, but at the moment it’s still a life-threatening weather system,” MetService head of weather news Heather Keats said.

Vaianu conjured memories from 2023’s Cyclone Gabriellewhich killed 11 and displaced thousands in one of New Zealand’s worst natural disasters this century.