New Zealand needs to rebuild for weather resilience, PM says

Feb 20, 2023, 8:46 PM | Updated: 8:52 pm
A large slip in the Taurau Valley near Gisborne from Cyclone Gabrielle, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023. Cy...

A large slip in the Taurau Valley near Gisborne from Cyclone Gabrielle, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023. Cyclone Gabrielle struck the country's north on Feb. 13 and the level of damage has been compared to Cyclone Bola in 1988. That storm was the most destructive on record to hit the nation of 5 million people. (George Heard/NZ Herald via AP)

(George Heard/NZ Herald via AP)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — After last week’s damaging cyclone, New Zealand needs to rebuild with more resilient infrastructure to cope with more frequent and intense weather events, the prime minister said Tuesday.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has described Cyclone Gabrielle, which caused widespread damage on New Zealand’s North Island and claimed 11 lives, as the country’s most damaging natural disaster in at least a generation.

The cyclone followed another storm two weeks earlier that swamped New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, and killed four people.

Hipkins said there had been a nine-fold increase in government spending in the 2021-22 fiscal year on helping farmers cope with floods, storms and drought.

The number of weather events that require emergency road work more than doubled from an average of 67 a year between 2018 and 2021 to 140 a year, Hipkins said.

“We know that how we recover has to be done a little bit differently this time,” Hipkins told Parliament. “We’ve got to build back better, we’ve got to build back safer and we’ve got to build back smarter.”

He added that New Zealand was “without question” experiencing the effects of climate change and extreme weather events were becoming more common and more intense.

“Business as usual won’t work any more. We have to accept that billions of dollars of additional investment is going to be required not just to fix up what has been damaged but to build more resilience so that we can better cope with these types of events in the future,” Hipkins said.

The government is making road repair a focus of the recovery effort. Around 250 state highways and local roads remained closed Monday afternoon and crews were repairing 400 kilometers (249 miles) of highway, Hipkins said.

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              A car sits semi-submerged in mud from Cyclone Gabrielle, in Rissington, near Napier, New Zealand, Sunday Feb. 19, 2023. Cyclone Gabrielle struck the country's north on Feb. 13 and the level of damage has been compared to Cyclone Bola in 1988. That storm was the most destructive on record to hit the nation of 5 million people. (Mike Scott/NZ Herald via AP)
            
              A resident walks amongst the debris washed ashore in Napier, New Zealand from Cyclone Gabrielle, Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023. Cyclone Gabrielle struck the country's north on Feb. 13 and the level of damage has been compared to Cyclone Bola in 1988. That storm was the most destructive on record to hit the nation of 5 million people. (Mark Mitchell/NZ Herald via AP)
            
              A car lies upside down in a paddock following Cyclone Gabrielle, in the Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023. Cyclone Gabrielle struck the country's north on Feb. 13 and the level of damage has been compared to Cyclone Bola in 1988. That storm was the most destructive on record to hit the nation of 5 million people. (Mike Scott/NZ Herald via AP)
            
              New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, left, and Hawke's Bay Civil Defence and Emergency Management Group Controller Ian McDonald survey cyclone Gabrielle damage to the Esk Valley, north of Napier, New Zealand, Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. The death toll from New Zealand's cyclone reached eight on Friday with more than 4,500 people still unaccounted for four days after the nation's most destructive weather event in decades brought widespread flooding, landslides and power outages, the prime minister said. (Mark Mitchell/New Zealand Herald via AP)
            
              A large water tank lies beside a Maori meeting house at Tangoio Marae following Cyclone Gabrielle in the Hawkes Bay of New Zealand, Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023. Cyclone Gabrielle struck the country's north on Feb. 13 and the level of damage has been compared to Cyclone Bola in 1988. That storm was the most destructive on record to hit the nation of 5 million people. (Paul Taylor/Hawkes Bay Today via AP)
            
              Glenn family members clean up their flood-damaged house from Cyclone Gabrielle in Napier, New Zealand, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023. Cyclone Gabrielle struck the country's north on Feb. 13 and the level of damage has been compared to Cyclone Bola in 1988. That storm was the most destructive on record to hit the nation of 5 million people. (Warren Buckland/Hawkes Bay Today via AP)
            
              New Zealand defense force personnel deliver supplies to stranded families following Cyclone Gabrielle, in Rissington, New Zealand, Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023. Cyclone Gabrielle struck the country's north on Feb. 13 and the level of damage has been compared to Cyclone Bola in 1988. That storm was the most destructive on record to hit the nation of 5 million people. (Mike Scott/NZ Herald via AP)
            
              New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins delivers his statement to Parliament on the first day of the house sitting after the summer recess in Wellington, New Zealand, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. Hipkins says the nation needs to rebuild more resilient infrastructure in the aftermath of last week's cyclone to cope with more frequent and intense weather events. (Jed Bradley/NZ Herald via AP)
            
              A large slip in the Taurau Valley near Gisborne from Cyclone Gabrielle, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023. Cyclone Gabrielle struck the country's north on Feb. 13 and the level of damage has been compared to Cyclone Bola in 1988. That storm was the most destructive on record to hit the nation of 5 million people. (George Heard/NZ Herald via AP)

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New Zealand needs to rebuild for weather resilience, PM says