Meteorologists are expressing grave concerns for several of the country’s coastal towns this afternoon after the discovery of an enormous letter H just off the east coast of New Zealand.
The H, which is estimated to be 300-400km in length and 200-300km in width, is moving rapidly to the northwest, with the small town of Gisborne directly in its path.
“This thing is truly massive,” said John Law, a meteorologist with MetService. “We’ve never seen an H this large, and certainly not anything on this kind of a trajectory. If that H does reach Gisborne as we predict, you can just imagine the devastation.”
Civil Defence has already begun evacuations of Gisborne and surrounding settlements, and has recommended that residents drive as far inland as Taupo to avoid any dangers associated with the impact.
Director of Civil Defence John Hamilton said it was important that people cooperate with authorities.
“We are asking every single resident – without exception – of the Gisborne and northern Hawke’s Bay regions to voluntarily evacuate to higher ground,” he said. “We will not force you and we have no authority to force you, but for your own safety, it is important that you leave. Please don’t go to Hamilton. It’s not safe there for other reasons.”
Prime Minister John Key told media this morning that the government was already assessing options for an aid package for affected regions, but would wait and see how extensive the damage was before making any concrete decisions.
MetService says that while widespread devastation is expected on the coast, it is unlikely that the H will travel further inland.
“We can’t say for sure, but I don’t think you’d expect to see the H come any more than a couple hundred kilometers inland,” said Law. “Once it hits the coast it should slow and eventually come to a halt. Worst case scenario, actually, is that it angles a little bit further to the west, in which case we could see it headed for Napier-Hastings. Then we’d have a real problem on our hands.”
He said that it was presently unclear where the H came from or exactly how it formed, but that MetService would be conducting a thorough investigation into the matter. He added that they were also monitoring a series of large numbers, arrows, lines and triangles.