Historical emergencies

Previous Emergency

A National Advisory: Large Pacific Earthquake Being Assessed was issued at 12:09am on 12 November 2022 following a magnitude 7.3 (initially reported as 7.5) earthquake at  in the Tonga region. Following assessment a National Advisory: No Tsunami Threat to New Zealand was issued at 12:49am.

A heavy rain event caused impacts across the top of south island. States of local emergency were declared for the West Coast region on 16 August 2022, Nelson-Tasman region on 17 August 2022 and Marlborough region on 19 August 2022. The Nelson-Tasman and Marlborough regions were particularly affected by significant flooding and slips requiring evacuations and cutting off road access to some communities.

A local State of Emergency for the Pleasant Point- Temuka Ward was declared on 20 July 2022. due to a heavy rain flood event.  The severe weather also impacted many other parts of the country causing flooding, slips and road closures. The local state of emergency expired on 27 July 2022 and was replaced with a notice of a local transition period.

On Wednesday 23 March, Tairāwhiti Civil Defence declared a state of emergency for the region due to severe weather. The severe weather caused flooding that required evacuations. Also on 23 March, MetService upgraded their Orange Heavy Rain Warning to a Red Heavy Rain Warning for the region. Rain eased over the course of the week.

Many parts of New Zealand experienced heavy rain and severe gales as Ex Tropical Cyclone Dovi crossed New Zealand. The severe weather caused flooding, slips, downed trees, road closures and disruption to power and cellphone services.

A state of local emergency was declared for the Buller District on 2 February 2022 owing to severe weather expected to cause flooding in Westport.  Westport residents were advised to self-evacuate to friends and family outside Westport if possible and a mandatory evacuation order was issued for parts of Westport on 4 February 2022. The impacts of the severe weather were not as bad as initially expected and evacuated residents were allowed to return home on the morning of 5 February 2022. A second state of local emergency was declared for Buller District on 10 February 2022 owing to further rain impacts on the district. The state of local emergency was lifted at 4:15pm on 21 February and replaced with a notice of local transition period.

A National Advisory: Kermadec Earthquake being assessed was issued at 4:07pm on 29 January 2022 following a M6.6 earthquake (later revised to M6.4). The Advisory was updated to a No tsunami threat at 4:44pm.

A National Advisory: Tsunami activity – expect strong and unusual currents and unpredictable surges at the shore was issued at 8:14pm on 15 January 2022 for the north and east coast of the North Island and the Chatham Islands following confirmation that a tsunami had been generated following a large volcanic eruption at Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'pai in Tonga.  The Advisory area was updated at 9:40am on 16 January to include the west coast of the South Island. Tsunami activity was observed around New Zealand and caused damage at Tutukaka Marina in Northland. The National Advisory was cancelled at 7:06pm on 16 January following advice from GNS Science that the tsunami threat had passed for all areas. Strong and unusual currents and unpredictable surges continued for several days following.

Tairāwhiti Civil Defence declared a local state of emergency at 2pm 04 November 2021 for heavy rain causing flooding in the Tairāwhiti region. This was terminated on the following day.