February 2023 will go down as the month that Aotearoa New Zealand experienced one of its worst weather disasters, as Cyclone Gabrielle caused historic extreme rainfall and river flooding, catastrophic wind damage, and substantial storm surges across the North Island. Unfortunately, this culminated in widespread destruction and loss-of-life, with a long and costly recovery ahead.
TMBC co-chair Graeme Marshall says that many TMBC partners will be supporting response and recovery activities across the North Island and in particular in Hawkes Bay and Tairāwhihti.
“Our thoughts go to those in our neighbouring regions who have suffered destruction and loss of life. It will be a long and hard recovery and I know many of our members will be helping either with direct assistance or through donations.
“While our region was spared the worst of the severe weather, there have been some impacts locally, and there will be learnings from the recovery of this for all of us.”
NIWA’s recently released Climate Summary report for the 2022-2023 summer period showed Tauranga has just experienced its wettest summer since records began in 1898. The city was hit with 287 per cent of its normal seasonal rainfall, a total of 754mm, making it the wettest summer on record. In February alone, the city had 231mm of rain.