SYDNEY (Reuters) – Residents of Australia’s Norfolk Island were cleaning up on Sunday after Cyclone Gabrielle, headed to New Zealand, on Saturday battered the tiny external territory in the Pacific Ocean.
Gabrielle, now downgraded to a sub-tropical low pressure system, passed over Norfolk Island Saturday night with the storm’s “most destructive winds” missing the island, the Australian outpost’s emergency management authority said.
In New Zealand, 1,460 kilometres (907 miles) to the south, the nation’s weather forecaster warned of the storm’s impact from Sunday. Last month its biggest city Auckland was hit by record rainfall that sparked floods and killed four people.
Air New Zealand said Saturday it was cancelling several North Island flights scheduled from Sunday to Tuesday ahead of the expected arrival of bad weather.
On Norfolk Island, which covers just over 34 square km (13 square miles) in the Pacific Ocean, between New Caledonia and New Zealand, authorities said they were clearing debris and trees from roads and restoring power knocked out overnight.
“There is still considerable clean up to be undertaken and it may take a while for services such as power to be restored,” Emergency Management Norfolk Island said.
Its roughly 2,000 residents, some descended from British sailors who mutinied on the HMS Bounty in the 18th century, had been “extremely fortunate” with the passage of the cyclone, the agency said, as winds eased and an all-clear was issued.
As Gabrielle tracks south, Auckland Emergency Management has warned the city is likely to be hit by strong winds on Sunday night, with gusts of up to 140 kph (90 mph) or higher predicted from Monday.
“This system poses a very high risk of extreme, impactful, and unprecedented weather over many regions of the North Island from Sunday to Tuesday,” weather forecaster, MetService, said Sunday.
(Reporting by Sam McKeith, editing by Deepa Babington)
