Kiwifruit Growers Largely Escape Cyclone Vaianu Damage
The country's kiwifruit growers seem to have escaped much of the predicted wrath of Cyclone Vaianu which hit the east coast of the North Island this month.
Julian Snowball, group controller for the Waikato CDEM Group, says now is not the time for people to become complacent.
"There were around 800 power outages across the Waikato overnight," Snowball says. "Power companies are restoring services where it is safe to do so."
He says mandatory evacuations have been coordinated across multiple homes, with residents being cared for by friends and families.
"Civil Defence Centres are available across the region, to receive displaced people, if required.
“We haven’t seen the worst of Cyclone Vaianu yet, so we continue to ask people to hunker down for now. Stay off the roads if possible, and there is still time to get better prepared.”
Snowball says if people's properties have previously experienced flooding during storms, and they are worried about their safety, they may like to self-evacuate to friends and family before the main weather system arrives.
“If that’s not an option, contact your local council for updates on the nearest Civil Defence Centres.”
Meanwhile, Fire and Emergency New Zealand says it has responded to a small number of calls for assistance as a result of the storm.
Brendan Nally, director of operations, says that as at 5am, 12 April 2026, crews responded to twelve incidents linked to Cyclone Vaianu. However, none of them were life threatening.
Most of the incidents are related to the winds, with fallen trees impacting properties and roofs lifting.
Additionally, Fire and Emergency assisted Civil Defence and New Zealand Police with precautionary evacuations from coastal areas in Northland and the Bay of Plenty yesterday.
Enhanced rescue teams are pre-positioned in Whangarei, Auckland, Rotorua, Tairawhiti, and Coromandel to support local fire brigades.
Fire and Emergency’s National Coordination Centre is activated, along with its Region Coordination Centres in Auckland and Tauranga.
