JAKARTA - The death toll from Typhoon Gabrielle in New Zealand grew to eight on Friday, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said, but continuing that number is expected to increase as emergency crews make contact with hundreds of disconnected communities.
Typhoons, which hit New Zealand in the top region of the North Island on Sunday before heading to the east coast, damaged cities, washed away agriculture, bridges, and livestock as well as inundated houses, leaving people stranded on the roofs of homes.
"We need to prepare for the fact that there may be more casualties from this across the country. And to what extent, we will not know for a while," PM Hipkins said.
More than 4,500 people on Friday afternoon were registered with the police for losing contact with friends or family since the typhoon hit. Police believe most of them do not have access to the communications network.
"No doubt this is the greatest natural disaster we may have seen in this century," said PM Hipkins.
"The scale of the damage is quite large because it covers a very large geographic area," he said.
"Based land can have an impact on the supply of fruit and vegetables in several areas," he said.
Two temporary morgues have been established in the Hawke's Bay region, one of the worst areas most of the countryside but including the cities of Napier, planai and Wairoa.
Meanwhile, communication and access to some areas remains difficult with around 62,000 properties still without electricity.
PM Hipkins said a team of specialists from Australia had arrived to assist with rescue and rescue efforts.
Truck convoys carrying important items are heading to remote areas and defense forces using ships and aircraft to transport goods to the east coast.
In Hawke's Bay, helicopters and ships were deployed to inspect people in remote settlements along with ground-based SAR teams.
It is known, the weather in New Zealand has started to improve, with sunny skies mostly forecast for most of the North Island over the weekend.
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