Fire and Emergency is urging people to stay home as an increasing number of trees come down across road due to Cyclone Gabrielle. Fire crews and Urban Search and Rescue teams are continuing to respond to a raft of other calls, including an evolving situation in Muriwai where residents in Motutara and Domain Roads are being evacuated to the local Surf Life Saving Club.

Fire and Emergency logged 59 storm-related incidents in one hour from 12-1am, bringing the total for the previous 12 hours to 779 (note that this is a rolling 12-hour period).

Of the 59 incidents logged between 12-1am, 6 are in Northland, 12 in Auckland, 24 in Waikato, 4 in Bay of Plenty, 2 in Gisborne and 11 in Hawke’s Bay.

Fire and Emergency is prioritising the response to calls where life and safety is at risk. Currently these include:

• flooding, trees down and a digger required to clear a road in Kaipara District
• trees down across roads, powerlines down, flooding evacuations and a number of collapsed houses in Auckland
• flooding in Thames-Coromandel District
• trees down, two trucks crashed into a tree and a house fire in Waikato District
• a tree endangering a house in Hamilton
• a truck stuck in powerlines in Otorohanga District
• riverbank bursting flooding a house in Gisborne
• trees falling onto houses, assisting with evacuations and people stuck between trees down on the road in Hastings District
• tree falling on a house in Napier

Fire and Emergency’s Auckland Response Manager Vaughan Mackereth is reiterating requests that people only call 111 when life and safety are at risk to ensure people who urgently need help can get through to our communications centre.

© Scoop Media