Aerial scenes from Esk Valley in Hawke's Bay - one of the worst affected in the region. Photo / John Cowpland / Stuff
Two people have died in separate incidents across Hawke's Bay as Cyclone Gabrielle passes over the region.
Police visited the property of a woman in Putorino following a missing person's report, where they discovered a bank had collapsed onto her home.
Officers undertook rescue efforts but they were unsuccessful.
A body was also discovered on Bay View Beach, north of Napier, at around 7.45pm according to police, who say the individual has not been formally identified.
The deaths come as authorities plead for assistance from the National Emergency Management Agency.
"The scale of the damage to infrastructure is beyond the region's capacity to manage," they said on Tuesday.
Hastings and Napier have been completely cut off from one another because of flooding and fallen trees, and north of Napier the town of Wairoa remains without power and phone connectivity.
A quarter of Wairoa has been flooded and hundreds have been evacuated from the town centred 70 kilometres between Gisborne and Napier.
All roads in and out are blocked due to flooding and trees felled by the storm.
“We are managing but we are geographically isolated and facing severe challenges. These include food and water supply, fuel and communications," a Wairoa council said on Tuesday evening.
”We are working to ensure people’s safety and trying to provide the best services we can given our limitations.”
The drinking water supply has been cut off due to flood waters in Wairoa, and food is running low.
Civil Defence is asking people in Napier and Hastings to save water and lessen their impact on the wastewater system.
About 16,000 people in Hastings and Napier could be in the dark for "days or weeks" because of a grid problem.
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Earlier RSE workers in Hastings had to be rescued from rooftops of portacoms as the floodwaters rose to ceiling height while others had to swim to safety. Photo / Stuff via Facebook
Ōmahu, Taradale and parts of Meeanee were evacuated after rivers burst their banks earlier, the evacuation orders for Meeanee and Taradale have since been lifted.
Bridges remain impassable at Fernhill Bridge, Vicarage Rd, Waiohiki, Brookfields Bridge and the Esk Bridge north of the intersection between State Highways 2 and 5.
Earlier RSE workers in Hastings had to be rescued from rooftops of portacoms as the floodwaters rose to ceiling height, while others had to swim to safety.
Iain Maxwell, who is in charge of regional civil defence, says Gabrielle's effects are “yet to be fully understood and it is going to take some time for all of the impacts to be remedied”.
