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 national state of emergency has been declared in New Zealand after widespread damage from Cyclone Gabrielle, the country's worst storm in generations.
Residents of Australia's Norfolk Island are cleaning up after Cyclone Gabrielle, heading to New Zealand, battered the tiny external territory in the Pacific Ocean.
Cyclone Gabrielle has formed off the coast of Queensland with about 2200 people living on Norfolk Island battening down as the storm intensifies and barrels towards the Australian outpost.
