Hello and welcome to the details of Cyclone Vaianu lashes New Zealand’s North Island, forcing evacuations and mass flight cancellations and now with the details
Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Illustration about construction site on the tarmac at Auckland airport before the cyclone Vaianu in New Zealand April 9, 2026. — Sylvain Lefevre/Hans Lucas pic via AFP
- Authorities issue rare ‘red’ level wind warnings
- Air New Zealand cancels over 90 flights
- Cyclone expected to exit this evening
AUCKLAND, April 12 — Cyclone Vaianu made landfall in New Zealand’s North Island today, triggering floods, power outages and forcing hundreds to evacuate.
The cyclone crossed the coast near the Maketu Peninsula, packing destructive winds exceeding 130kph, heavy rain and large swells, national weather provider MetService said, describing Vaianu as a “life-threatening” system.
Authorities have placed several regions under emergency declarations and issued “red” level wind warnings, which are reserved for only the most extreme weather events.
The cyclone was tracking towards the fringes of the North Island, sparing Auckland, the country’s most populous city, from the worst conditions, said Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell. But stronger winds and swells were still expected after its afternoon landfall.
“It’s moved more to the fringes and more to the east, which means that we haven’t quite seen the intensity that we had prepared for or that we thought we were going to get hit with. So that is good news,” Mitchell said.
“In terms of what we’re going to expect over the next 12 hours is we are going to see a bit more of intensification, as the cyclone starts to come down and get closer.”
The combination of the afternoon’s high tide and large swells from the storm could trigger coastal inundation, Mitchell warned.
“The concerning time is really from 2pm this afternoon (0800 GMT/4pm Malaysian time) onwards when we’ve got high tides combined with those big swells,” he said.
The cyclone has forced hundreds of residents to evacuate and knocked out electricity to 5,000 homes, with power restored to roughly 2,000, he said.
Authorities in the coastal Whakatane District reported a significant amount of damage as Vaianu passed through, with mandatory evacuations carried out at 270 properties.
New Zealand Defence Force members and heavy equipment have also been deployed to assist with evacuations.
MetService said it had recorded 130 kph wind gusts in some areas, 24-hour rainfall totals of more than 100mm in the city of Whangarei and wave heights exceeding six metres.
Air New Zealand said in a statement that it had cancelled more than 90 turboprop flights, primarily out of regional North Island airports.
“Domestic jet and international services are operating as scheduled, although there are some delays due to the weather conditions,” the airline said.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand said it responded to more than 100 calls for assistance relating to wind damage and surface flooding.
Conditions will ease as Vaianu works its way down the North Island before exiting on Sunday evening at Hawke’s Bay, MetService said.
“Things do improve from tonight and tomorrow, but at the moment this is still a life-threatening weather system,” said Heather Keats, MetService head of weather news.
Vaianu has conjured up memories of 2023’s Cyclone Gabrielle, which killed 11 and displaced thousands in one of New Zealand’s biggest natural disasters this century. — Reuters
These were the details of the news Cyclone Vaianu lashes New Zealand’s North Island, forcing evacuations and mass flight cancellations for this day. We hope that we have succeeded by giving you the full details and information. To follow all our news, you can subscribe to the alerts system or to one of our different systems to provide you with all that is new.
It is also worth noting that the original news has been published and is available at Malay Mail and the editorial team at AlKhaleej Today has confirmed it and it has been modified, and it may have been completely transferred or quoted from it and you can read and follow this news from its main source.
