Around 58,000 people were without power in New Zealand as of Monday afternoon, according to the head of the National Emergency Management Agency, Roger Ball, due to a tropical storm in the north of the country.
A state of emergency has been declared in five regions in the north of the archipelago, affecting almost a third of the country’s 5.1 million inhabitants.
Although the storm was downgraded from cyclonic status as it approached New Zealand on Sunday, downpours and strong winds downed trees, damaged roads and downed power lines.
One person is missing, police said. She was aboard a boat from which she had made a distress signal near Great Barrier Island (north) Monday morning.
Wellington-based New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins was among thousands of people stranded in Auckland (north) after flights were canceled due to the storm.
“Things are going to get worse before they get better,” Mr Hipkins told a news conference on Monday, urging people to “prepare” and “stay inside if you can”.
Mr Hipkins said the government was considering declaring a national emergency for only the third time in the country’s history, but that was not necessary at the moment.
Wind gusts of up to 140 km/h have hit northern New Zealand and gusts of up to 110 km/h have been recorded at the Auckland Harbor Bridge.
Emergency Management Secretary Kieran McAnulty had warned it was going to be a “critical day” due to the “very dangerous” combination of high winds and heavy rain.
Auckland, the country’s largest city with 1.6 million people, is barely recovering from flash floods that killed four people and displaced thousands from their homes in late January.
Weather conditions have disrupted New Zealand’s transport network, with flight, train and bus travel cancellations.
Air New Zealand said it had canceled 509 flights so far, but services are expected to resume as normal on Tuesday.
The airline said the travel of around 10,000 international customers has been disrupted.