Ogden missionary alive and safe after cyclone in New Zealand

UPDATE: An Ogden missionary is safe, after being out of contact following a cyclone in New Zealand his mother told KSL TV Thursday.

Additional information was not immediately available.

The previous story continues below.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Ten missionaries have made contact with mission leaders in New Zealand after a devastating cyclone smashed the island nation, and efforts are being made to contact two remaining missionaries who are in an area where communication has still not been restored. One of those two missionaries is from Ogden, Utah.

On Tuesday, Cyclone Gabrielle battered the country’s North Island in what officials described to the Associated Press as the nation’s most severe weather event in decades.

“We are praying for those who have suffered loss of family members, and of property,” said Elder K. Brett Nattress, President of the Pacific Area of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “We add to these prayers our helping hands, alongside the relief work of many others, to bring assistance and hope to those impacted by this cyclone.”

Police said at least four people had been killed by the storm, including a child caught in rising water on Tuesday at Eskdale on Hawke’s Bay. All four fatalities occurred near the same North Island east coast bay, two in landslides and two by drowning.

A weather station in the Hawke’s Bay region recorded three times more rain over Monday night than usually falls for the entire month of February, authorities said.

Four missionaries were evacuated from the Hawke’s Bay area with community members as floodwaters rose rapidly. Church officials said the missionaries spent the night sheltering in the home of a local Latter-day Saint family.

“We expect that … the four elders will be back in their area and communications will begin to return to normal over the next few days,” Mission President David Thomson of the Church’s’ New Zealand Wellington Mission said.

“Like most people in their area, electricity supplies have been disrupted, and we don’t expect those to be fully restored for a few days,” he added. “We have a senior couple serving in the area and they are making regular visits to make sure missionaries have food and other supplies. We are also receiving excellent support from local Latter-day Saint leaders.”

Reports indicate that an unspecified number of Church meetinghouses, especially in the north of the country and Hawke’s Bay, suffered flooding and other damage.

President Thomson and President Garrick Parr from the New Zealand Auckland Mission reported all missionaries are safe and accounted for.

President Jeffery Nikoia from the New Zealand Hamilton Mission reported efforts are being made to contact two remaining missionaries who are in an area where communication has still not been restored.

President Nikoia was traveling to the missionaries with a satellite phone and hopes to provide an update to the Church. Several communities remained isolated Thursday because of telecommunication outages, floods and landslides.