A New Zealand firefighter is missing and entire towns are cut off as the country declares a National State of Emergency in the wake of former tropical cyclone Gabrielle.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins acknowledged the effort of first responders overnight as New Zealand's North Island was battered by the storm.
"A lot of families are displaced, a lot of homes are without power, [there is] a lot of damage done across the country," he said.
"Families are without power and, in some cases, without communications."
New Zealand fire and emergency confirmed a volunteer firefighter became trapped inside a house that slid down the side of a mountain in Muriwai, a beachside town near Auckland.
A second firefighter was rescued and is in critical condition in hospital.
Local media are reporting the emergency services crews were investigating damage inside a property when a landslide occurred and the building collapsed.
The Prime Minister said it was "too early to get a count of the number of people displaced and the number of injuries" caused by the storm so far.
Thousands of residents are without power, with a mass evacuation centre set up at Auckland's Trust Arena.
Overnight, Muriwai locals evacuated to the local surf club, but conditions worsened.
Neighbours Mary Ann Paterson and Jane Scott received an emergency text at midnight instructing them to evacuate.
"It was pitch black and pouring with rain and ... we got our torches and we got our bags and we headed off down the road. We decided to go down the steps to get down the hill, which was lucky," Ms Scott said.
"The house that collapsed ... is just a few doors down from us, so we're not sure if we'll be able to get back there."
Ms Patersons said: "It was scary, but I went a bit numb and I just focused on what I had to do to survive."
"We all know the volunteer firefighters."
The two women were evacuated to a town hall in an army truck.
On Tuesday afternoon, Fire and Emergency New Zealand Deputy National Commander Steph Rotarangi provided an update on the search for the missing firefighter, saying the service was doing everything possible to "improve the likelihood of a positive outcome".
"Our crews are on site in Muriwai and are undertaking all tasks that can be done to improve our information and for them to get underway in a matter that is safe," she said.
"What that looks like is deploying drones, working with NZ police and defence force and council on geotechnical advice for when it will be safe for our people to start searching again at this location."
'This is a significant disaster'
"This is an extreme weather event, probably the biggest we have seen in recent times, and it comes hot on the heels of other extreme weather events. For our emergency supports agencies, it is a particularly stressful time," Mr Hipkins said.
"This is very significant, the fact that we've declared a national state of emergency means that a statutory threshold ... has been reached. It's quite a high threshold."
Earlier, New Zealand Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty said former tropical cyclone Gabrielle still posed a "real threat" to life.
Mr McAnulty signed the emergency declaration at 8:43am on Tuesday, the government said in a statement.
A National State of Emergency has only been declared in New Zealand on two previous occasions — following the magnitude-6.3 earthquake in Christchurch in 2011 and in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"This is a significant disaster, with a real threat to the lives of New Zealanders," Mr McAnulty said.
"Today we are expecting to see more rain and high winds."
Mr McAnulty said the country was through the worst of the actual storm but they were facing extensive flooding, slips and damage to roads and infrastructure.
Mr Hipkins said: "As soon as the extent of the destruction and damage became clear, advice came [that a] National State of Emergency should be declared and we acted on that immediately."
The emergency declaration will apply to the six regions that have already declared a local State of Emergency: Northland, Auckland, Tairwhiti, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Hawkes Bay.
Acting Director of Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Roger Ball said other areas could be added to the national emergency declaration.
"This declaration won't change the ongoing role of Civil Defence Emergency Management groups and agencies to do their jobs locally," Mr Ball said.
"But what this declaration does give us is the ability to set overall intent and to respond to multi-regional needs, to allocate critical resources in a coordinated manner across the country.
"It will also, I hope, provide public assurance that national authorities have this and no effort will be spared."
Gabrielle had been sitting 100 kilometres north-east of Auckland over some small islands, but has been moving south-west on Tuesday.
Meterological organisation MetService said, while the worst of the rain had passed for Auckland, the former tropical cyclone would start to have more of an impact further south.
Gabrielle has brought heavy rain, flooding and gale force winds across the North Island and forced the evacuation of several beach towns.
Local media have photos of people sitting on tops of buildings, surrounded by flood waters, of houses at the bottom of hills following landslides and of roads under water.
"This has been and continues to be a serious and significant event for our region," Deputy Controller Auckland Emergency Management Rachel Kelleher said on Tuesday.
"Keep up to date and look after one another."
Mr McAnulty said in an earlier statement that the National Emergency Management Agency had been in close contact with local CDEM teams of affected areas to assess the need of the declaration.
He said he now considered a National State of Emergency declaration beneficial after meeting with local emergency teams.
"A National State of Emergency gives the national controller legal authority to apply resources across the country in support of a national-level response," he said.
"This declaration gives us the ability to coordinate further resources for affected regions.
"I want to emphasise that the government has already been surging support and resources to the regions for some days."
A New Zealand navy vessel had been searching for a man at sea after a yacht turned on its emergency beacon this morning, but in an update this afternoon announced he had been found and was safe.
It's been just two weeks since a record-breaking storm swamped New Zealand's largest city and killed four people.
Much of Auckland has ground to a halt as train services were cancelled, libraries and schools were closed and authorities asked people to make only essential trips.
Air New Zealand has cancelled all domestic flights to and from Auckland throughtout Tuesday morning, as well as many international flights.
