New Zealand is getting ready for a severe storm that could hit areas of the country that have already suffered from deadly flooding.
From Saturday night, Cyclone Gabrielle is anticipated to make landfall on the nation’s North Island, possibly bringing with it strong winds and additional heavy rain.
In case they become stranded at home, residents have been advised to make sure they have enough supplies to last three days.
The storm strikes just a few weeks after Auckland was flooded by torrential rain.
There, tens of thousands of sandbags have been distributed due to worries that the weakened infrastructure and soggy ground have made homes more susceptible to flooding.
Evacuation shelters have been set up once again, and Air New Zealand, the national carrier, has cancelled several domestic flights ahead of the cyclone’s arrival.
Photographs and videos posted on social media showed long queues at supermarkets and bare shelves as people prepared for more severe weather.
Local media have reported that New Zealand’s most northern region, Northland, has already begun to experience high winds.
Cyclone Gabrielle has been downgraded from a category three storm to a category two, meaning less destructive winds are now expected.
However, forecasters have warned that they could still be strong enough to damage trees and power lines and that enough rain could fall to cause further flooding and landslides in the coming days.
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The Coromandel Peninsula and the Tairāwhiti/Gisborne region, which were also affected by the recent torrential rain, have been placed under the most serious weather alert.
Residents in flood-prone areas have been told to prepare to evacuate.
“There’s a degree of nervousness and anxiety around this coming event,” the Thames-Coromandel district’s mayor, Len Salt, told the Stuff news website.
“Coromandel people are pretty resilient, but the fact we’ve been in this mode dealing with storm events from the beginning of January…people are tired.”
Meanwhile, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology has said that conditions on the remote territory of Norfolk Island have begun to deteriorate because of Cyclone Gabrielle.
The island, which lies north of New Zealand, has also been placed under a red alert. Residents have been warned to stay indoors and to find the strongest part of their homes under which to take shelter.
Only three cyclones have come within a 50km (31 mile) range of the island in the past 30-40 years.