Cyclone Gabrielle: New Zealand braces for storm after record floods

Preparations are nether mode successful New Zealand for a terrible tempest that threatens to deed parts of the state already damaged by deadly flooding.

Cyclone Gabrielle is expected to deed the country's North Island from Saturday nighttime - perchance bringing beardown winds and further dense rain.

Residents person been told to guarantee they person capable supplies to past 3 days successful lawsuit they are trapped astatine home.

Tens of thousands of sandbags person been distributed determination owed to concerns the sodden crushed and weakened infrastructure person made homes much susceptible to flooding.

Evacuation shelters person been acceptable up erstwhile again and Air New Zealand, the nationalist carrier, has cancelled respective home flights up of the cyclone's arrival.

Photographs and videos posted connected societal media showed agelong queues astatine supermarkets and bare shelves arsenic radical prepared for much terrible weather.

Local media person reported that New Zealand's astir bluish region, Northland, has already begun to acquisition precocious winds.

Cyclone Gabrielle has been downgraded from a class 3 tempest to a class two, meaning little destructive winds are present expected.

However, forecasters person warned that they could inactive beryllium beardown capable to harm trees and powerfulness lines and that capable rainfall could autumn to origin further flooding and landslides successful the coming days.

The Coromandel Peninsula and the Tairāwhiti/Gisborne region, which were besides affected by the caller torrential rain, person been placed nether the astir superior upwind alert.

Residents successful flood-prone areas person been told to hole to evacuate.

"There's a grade of nervousness and anxiousness astir this coming event," the Thames-Coromandel district's mayor, Len Salt, told the Stuff quality website.

"Coromandel radical are beauteous resilient, but the information we've been successful this mode dealing with tempest events from the opening of January...people are tired."

Meanwhile, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology has said that conditions connected the distant territory of Norfolk Island person begun to deteriorate due to the fact that of Cyclone Gabrielle.

The island, which lies northbound of New Zealand, has besides been placed nether a reddish alert. Residents person been warned to enactment indoors and to find the strongest portion of their homes nether which to instrumentality shelter.

"It's getting hectic," nonmigratory Alex McGillycuddy told ABC News, adding that the upwind has go truthful beardown it was hard to basal up outside.

"Some of the radical here, they haven't seen thing similar this and they've been present 25 years," helium said.

Only 3 cyclones person travel wrong a 50km (31 mile) scope of the land successful the past 30-40 years.