The New Zealand government expects Cyclone Gabrielle to come with a bill of more than $10 billion ($A9.1 billion), rivalling the costs of the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes. A week after Gabrielle first brought gale-force winds to New Zealand, authorities are still coming to grips with the magnitude of its destruction. "It's going to be the biggest weather-related event this century and it will have a multi-billion dollar price tag," he said. "(The) Canterbury (2011 earthquakes) was up in that sort of $13 billion ($A12 billion) area. Bank of New Zealand research head Stephen Toplis told the NZ Herald a Gabrielle response faced those difficulties in a recession-bound economy still struggling with COVID-19.
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