In the tiny Northland township of Mangamuka, extreme weather has isolated its people and the incoming cyclone threatens to make it worse. It was July 2020 when heavy rain saw slips wash away State Highway 1 where it crossed the Mangamuka Range, south of Kaitaia. And now, with Cyclone Gabrielle bearing down on New Zealand, the residents are bracing to be further isolated. When it rains, floods south of the town often cut off what is now Mangamuka’s only road out. Smith, 65, says shopping trips to Kaitaia used to be every fortnight.
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