At least nine dead after Cyclone Gabrielle in New Zealand Pop singer Tony Marshall is dead

The death toll after the devastation of Cyclone Gabrielle in New Zealand has risen to nine. There are serious concerns about ten missing people, police and civil protection said at a press conference in the capital Wellington on Saturday.

The priority is to find these people and to provide the isolated communities with food and water. Helicopters are also used for this. There are reports of looting, but these are isolated cases, it said.

The tropical storm has caused severe damage in large parts of the North Island since the beginning of the week with strong winds and heavy rainfall. The Hawke’s Bay region was particularly hard hit. Many houses, roads and bridges have been destroyed and power and communication lines have been damaged.

In some places the water was so high that only the roofs of houses were above the water. When the water receded, huge amounts of mud were left behind in many buildings. The government had already declared a national emergency on Tuesday – only the third time in the history of the Pacific country, which has a population of about five million.

(yam/sda/dpa)