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Cyclone Gabrielle has claimed at least four lives in New Zealand and police have "grave concerns" for other residents who remain unaccounted for, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says.
Police confirmed a child caught in rising water on Tuesday at Eskdale on Hawke's Bay was among the four people killed by the storms.
Firefighter Dave van Zwanenberg, who had been missing since a landslip on Monday night toppled houses in Muriwai on Auckland's west coast, was another victim.
"This morning, our team, working alongside police, located a body in the area where they were searching. We have not yet identified who this is and will be working with police to retrieve and identify the body," Fire and Emergency chief executive Kerry Gregory said.
Van Zwanenberg is a vet, pilot and father of two young children.
A woman killed by a landslide at Putorino and a body was found on a shore at Napier on Tuesday, police said.
Another firefighter, who was rescued from the slip with critical injuries, has been named as Craig Stevens, a volunteer for the Muriwai brigade since 2018.
'Grave concerns' for some missing people
Hipkins said it was unclear how many people remained unaccounted for, with several communities still isolated by floodwaters, landslides and telecommunications outages.
Police said 1442 people had been reported uncontactable in the North Island as of Wednesday afternoon.
"We expect the vast majority of these people will be accounted for. However, there are several people missing for whom police do hold grave concerns," Hipkins told reporters.
Hipkins said he could not put a figure on how many missing person reports were of grave concern.
He said 1111 people had been reported found by Wednesday, which would cancel out some of those reported uncontactable.
However, police had "grave concerns" for several people they confirmed were missing from the Eastern District – Hawke's Bay and Tairāwhiti.
They urged anyone concerned about friends and family to try their usual methods of communication first, whether that's a phone number, email, social media or a pre-planned emergency meeting place.
Raft of rescues and evacuations
About 9000 people have been forced from their homes since Monday.
More than 300 people were rescued Tuesday from the Hawke's Bay area, including 60 stranded on a single roof, an official said. The final 25 rescues of individuals and family groups were expected to be completed on Wednesday.
Hipkins said seven rescues had yet to be completed by late Wednesday. He did not say how many people had yet to be retrieved, but said none was in danger.
"The feedback that we've had is that those seven that are still outstanding, all of the people concerned are safe," Hipkins said.
"The people who were on rooftops and precarious positions have been rescued," he added.
Along with rescues, the government was prioritising restoring power and telecommunications as well as delivering food, water and medicine to where it was needed, Hipkins said.
A naval ship left Auckland late on Wednesday with drinking water for Hawke's Bay communities and another ship would follow with vital supplies on Thursday.
A helicopter would drop bottled water for 3000 people on Wednesday night.
Emergency responders planned to hold a barbecue for the same number of people on Wednesday night at the Hawke's Bay town of Wairoa.
"They'll keep cooking into the night until either they run out of people to feed or they run out of food," Hipkins said.
Water treatment equipment would also be delivered to Wairoa on Thursday, he said.
Around 160,000 properties on the North Island were without power on Wednesday, down from 225,000 on Tuesday, the government said.
King Charles III's sister, Princess Anne, visited New Zealand's disaster management headquarters in the capital, Wellington, on Wednesday and praised the nation's response.
The British royal's visit to New Zealand was scheduled before the cyclone struck.
Video shows how swiftly floodwaters can rise in New Zealand
"My thoughts are with all New Zealanders whose homes or livelihoods have been affected by Cyclone Gabrielle," she said in a statement.
"I admire the courage of the people of Aotearoa during this alarming and difficult time," she said, using the country's Māori-language name.
"You should all be proud of the resilience, strength and care for your communities you are showing in the face of adversity," she added.
'Similar feel to the Christchurch Earthquake', defence commander says
Joint Forces commander Rear Admiral Jim Gilmour said HMNZS Manawanui would arrive in Gisborne harbour late on Thursday morning with food and water, and a communications line would be set up in the town as satellite phones being used by responders were running out of battery power.
Gilmour said the response had a "similar feel to the Christchurch earthquake in terms of scale", due to the "breadth of challenges" faced.
He was the commander of HMNZS Canterbury, which was in Lyttleton Habour when the 2011 earthquake struck.
"There is a real challenge just to understand what needs to happen, and in what order," he said.
"I would not be surprised if the state of emergency gets extended next week, just as we learn more."
Not the first emergency event of 2023
Last month Auckland and surrounding areas were hit by record rainfall that sparked floods and killed four people.
Hipkins said British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had phoned offering his country's support and assistance.
The Australian government also said it was ready to provide support where and if needed, Hipkins said.
This latest disaster is the third national state of emergency after the 2011 Christchurch earthquake and COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and is due to a weather system off the country's north that is tracking south and east along the coast.
A weather station in the Hawke's Bay and Napier region recorded three times more rain over Monday night than usually falls for the entire month of February, authorities said.
The national state of emergency includes six regions where local emergencies had already been declared. They are Auckland, as well as the regions of Northland, Tairawhiti, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Hawke's Bay.
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