WELLINGTON (dpa): Cyclone Vaianu made landfall in New Zealand on Sunday, forcing hundreds to evacuate, cutting power and flooding roads.
The cyclone made landfall near the Maketū Peninsula in the country's North Island on Sunday afternoon, MetService said.
MetService had placed the entire North Island under severe weather watches or warnings, with strong wind warnings and damaging gusts of up to 130 kilometres per hour "posing risks to life" in some areas.
Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell estimated about 800 people had been evacuated in the North Island. Power had been cut to thousands of people and roads had been closed due to flooding, Mitchell said.
"The good news is that in terms of the projected tracking of the cyclone, although it's still inside its original path, it's moved more to the fringes and more to the east,” Mitchell said.
That meant "we haven't quite seen the intensity that we had prepared for or that we thought we were going to get hit with," he added.
A number of regions had declared states of emergency due to strong winds, heavy rain and large swells.
Fire and Emergency (FENZ) said crews had responded to more than 100 calls for help on Sunday.
"Most of the calls have come from the east coast of the North Island, reflecting the path of the storm and the high winds and rainfall," FENZ said in a statement.
FENZ assistant national commander Ken Cooper said specialist resources including teams with enhanced rescue and water response capability were in position to assist in areas most impacted by the bad weather.
The cyclone hit Fiji earlier in the week, prompting the precautionary closures of schools and universities nationwide due to heavy rain and strong winds. -- dpa
