Nine To Noon

The devastation wreaked by Cyclone Gabrielle on farming and horticulture is being described as catastrophic. Jim Galloway is the President of Hawkes Bay Federated Farmers and speaks Kathryn from a hill above his farm in Ruakawa - about 15 kilometres southwest of Hastings.

RNZ's Kate Green is in Gisborne, where communication remains a challenge and the local council has printed extra copies of the local newspaper to get the key information to residents.

Nearly 60-thousand people remain without power in Hastings and Napier, with warnings it could be days or weeks before power is returned to all customers. Transpower announced a national grid emergency yesterday after its Redclyffe substation was flooded. Unison, which owns and operates the network serving Hawkes Bay, Rotorua and Taupo, says its crews has been out trying to restore power where it was safe to do so - but a large portion of its Hawke's Bay customers are affected by the substation flooding. Danny Gough is a spokesperson for Unison.

Limited power is back in parts of Gisborne after the Tairawhiti region was cut off from the rest of the country by ex-tropical cyclone Gabrielle. Communications with the region are still spotty, and it could take weeks to get power and communications back up and running. Gisborne residents are being asked to urgently conserve water after a break in the city's main supply, somewhere between the dams and the treatment plant. Gisborne mayor Rehette Stoltz joins Kathryn by satellite phone.

Roads around the upper North Island have been badly damaged - and in some cases have left communities completely isolated. To give a sense of the scale of the destruction and how long it might take to repair, Kathryn is joined by Waka Kotahi National Emergency Response Team spokesperson Mark Owen.

RNZ reporter Lauren Crimp has been at an evacuation centre in Hastings, where residents are affected by flooding and power outages.

Napier mayor Kirsten Wise joins Kathryn for an update on the situation in the Napier area, warning that high tide may cause issues and that further evacuations might be needed.

Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise is in Napier, at the city's Emergency Operation Centre

Communities up and down the East Coast remain cut off this morning with no way of knowing how they're faring in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle. Communication is down, State Highway 35 - the main roading lifeline in the region is badly damaged, and there has been widespread flooding - with rivers once again choked with forestry slash. Kiritapu Allan is East Coast MP as well as Minister for Regional Development and Associate Transport Minister.

Watercare has urged customers in Muriwai, Helensville and Wellsford to reduce their water use. It says local water treatment plants have been affected by power and communications outages - and the road issues mean access to the plants are difficult. Local water storage reservoirs are starting to run now -and there's a risk they'll run out of water. Kathryn is joined by Nigel Toms, Watercare's incident controller.