Fire and Emergency has made significant progress in responding to 111 calls for help in Hawke’s Bay since yesterday.

Te Ūpoko Region Manager Bruce Stubbs said having the additional support of firefighters, incident management teams and Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) specialists from around the country has helped enormously in being able to get to the people who need it.

"We have focussed today on working with our emergency partner agencies to carry out rescues across the district, and making sure we’ve visited every property," Bruce Stubbs said.

"We now have 62 USAR personnel helping with rescues and disaster assessments in the district, as they have technical rescue and geotechnical expertise and can fly drones to assess inaccessible areas.

"There has been a tremendous demand for our services since Cyclone Gabrielle arrived on Monday afternoon, and our people have worked tirelessly to respond to our community’s needs," Bruce Stubbs said.

"We still have new incidents coming in which we’re working through, and we continue to prioritise those people who need the most urgent help, such as those trapped in vehicles and houses.

"Between Fire and Emergency and our emergency partner agencies - Civil Defence, NZ Police and the NZ Defence Force - we’ve carried out 290 rescues during Cyclone Gabrielle so far."

There are also rapid damage assessments for buildings and critical infrastructure are being carried out across the district.

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