Cyclone Gabrielle made landfall in New Zealand as a powerful subtropical storm in mid-February 2023, after downgrading from a tropical cyclone. But the squall still went on to become the Southern Hemisphere’s costliest tropical cyclone ever, with damages estimated at around NZ$10 billion (£5.2bn/$6.6bn).

It pummelled the country’s North Island, prompting a state of emergency to be declared for only the third time in New Zealand’s history. Subsequent flooding and landslides claimed 11 lives and left a trail of catastrophe, with climate scientists linking human-caused warming to the increased rainfall.

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