SYDNEY - New Zealand’s death toll from Cyclone Gabrielle rose to nine on Saturday as clean-up continued on the nation’s battered North Island and the authorities worked to find missing people.

The cyclone hit the uppermost region of the North Island on Sunday and tracked down the east coast, causing widespread devastation.

On Saturday, the police said they were investigating a possible cyclone-related death of a person in the hard-hit Hawke’s Bay region, taking the death toll to nine.

Getting aid to impacted communities was also a priority, with the navy saying a ship with 26 tonnes of supplies was on its way to Napier, in Hawke’s Bay. 

The air force said helicopters loaded with food and water were bound for the stranded village of Tutira, about 105km further north. 

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the response to the crisis was “still under way and there are people across the North Island working around the clock”.

Mr Hipkins has called Gabrielle the biggest natural disaster to hit New Zealand this century, and warned that the death toll was likely to rise as crews made contact with hundreds of cut-off communities.

Almost 5,000 people as at Friday night were registered with the police as being out of touch with friends or family since the cyclone hit, the authorities said on Saturday, while 885 people had registered as safe.

There were grave fears for a small number, around 10, of those still missing.

The authorities said around 62,000 households were without power nationwide. Of those, almost 40,000 were in Hawke’s Bay, out of a population of about 170,000.

Nearly 2,000 people remained in evacuation centres in Hawke’s Bay, while potentially up to 1,000 people in the region remained beyond the reach of emergency services, The New Zealand Herald reported.

“We have our work cut out for us, we’re focused on securing a reliable water supply, reaching isolated people and re-establishing phone and Internet connections,” said Mr Ben Green, civil defence group controller at Tairawhiti Gisborne, north of Hawke’s Bay.

Two temporary morgues have been set up in the Hawke’s Bay region, which is largely rural but includes the towns of Napier, Hastings and Wairoa.

The disaster comes after Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, was last month hit by record rainfall that sparked floods, killing four people. REUTERS