As Cyclone Gabrielle intensifies today, the time to self-evacuate or get last-minute supplies is fast running out.

The cyclone will build momentum throughout today and continue through until the early hours of Tuesday morning, when the rain will begin to ease but winds will remain at gale force.

What this means:

400mm of rain is expected over the next 24 hours.

Gale force easterly winds with gusts of 130km/h will cover the entire district.

The eye of the cyclone is directly over the Coromandel at present and it is forecast to head south east and move off by Tuesday afternoon.

Once this happens, the strong winds will turn westerly and impact the Firth of Thames and State Highway 25 (Thames Coast Road).

The barometric pressure for the Firth of Thames later today will be at 962 p/a, this is almost as low as Cyclone Bola in 1988.

Our Civil Defence Controller Garry Towler has two very clear messages for everyone:

“Get to somewhere safe and secure now and stay there for the next 24 hours, don’t take any risks,” Mr Towler says.

“This is an unprecedented storm event. It is going to be intense and dangerous for anyone not hunkered down and safe.”

Our Mayor Len Salt has expressed his gratitude to the dozens of people, Council staff, emergency Services personnel, emergency management specialists and contractors for answering the call to help out.

Civil Defence have approximately 150 personnel responding, supporting and standing by for the event, many have travelled from across the region and elsewhere in New Zealand to be here to help us.

“Our sincere thanks go to the ‘cavalry’ for coming to our aid, we really need this support as we have been absolutely smashed these past six weeks and resources are very stretched,” says Mr Towler.

Here's Mayor Len with a message about our Civil Defence Centres, self-evacuation, and our unrivalled community spirit:

Additional information:

• Emergency shelters: www.tcdc.govt.nz/atrisk
• Weather updates: www.metservice.com
• Local Council roads updates: www.tcdc.govt.nz/roads
• State Highways updates: www.journeys.nzta.govt.nz/traffic/regions/3

Council services:

• Our Council’s Whangamatā and Coromandel Town service centres are closed today.
• All our Refuse Transfer Stations (RTS) are closed today and tomorrow.
• There are no Kerbside rubbish and recycling collections today or tomorrow. There will be no catch-up collections. Keep your material until next week or take it to a RTS once they’re open.
• Thames Centennial Pool is closed today and tomorrow.
• The Whangamatā Community Board meeting tomorrow has been postponed with the new date to be confirmed.

The Department of Conservation (DOC) has closed facilities throughout Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne and the Hawke’s Bay. Visitors should keep an eye on the dedicated page of the DOC website for weather-related updates: www.doc.govt.nz/news/issues/severe-weather/

• Whitianga New World is closing at 7pm tonight
• Countdown Whitianga is closing at 2pm today.

© Scoop Media