Cyclone Gabrielle relief effort

Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle was identified on 8 Feb 2023 in the Coral Sea, where sea surface temperatures were around 30 deg C. It swept SE from around Norfolk Island in a curved path towards Auckland and the Coromandel Peninsula from 12 Feb. As it neared the NE coast of New Zealands North Island around Great Barrier Island on 14 Feb, it swung away from the mainland, passing the northern tip of Gisborne that evening and heading further SE into the South Pacific. It had tracked east of the Chatham Islands by the morning of 16 Feb.

In its wake, with extremely low pressures Cyclone Gabrielle left a path of record rainfall and flooding, with destroyed buildings in many communities over a wide area. The impact was intensified by the affected areas already suffering heavy rainfall in the week leading up to the Cyclone, with the ground saturated and rivers already swollen.

The New Zealand Defence Force was mobilised before Cyclone Gabrielle struck. RNZAF 3 Squadron moved NH90 around the North Island poised to respond. The Armys 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment was rebuilding bridges washed away in the flood (eg around Rissington), while the RNZN deployed HMNZS Canterbury and smaller ships around the areas affected. Civil aid organisations also responded.