Police are investigating a death in the Hawke's Bay region in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle.
The body was found on Saturday morning and police believe the death is related to the cyclone.
That brings the death toll from the storm to nine, including a child and two firefighters.
Meanwhile in Auckland, Civil Defence says the landslide risk in Piha and Muriwai remains high.
About 20 homes were evacuated in Piha due to land instability, and an exclusion zone is in place for a large part of Muriwai.
Auckland's emergency management controller Adam Maggs told Morning Report engineers are assessing roads and land.
He says people who aren't residents should stay away from the coast.
Government provides update on cyclone response
Repairing the damage from Cyclone Gabrielle is going to be a major focus for New Zealand for some time, the head of Emergency Management has said at the government's latest update.
Government officials are briefing media on Saturday afternoon on the latest developments on the Cyclone Gabrielle response.
The media event is being addressed by Emergency Management acting director Roger Ball, police deputy commissioner Glenn Dunbier, and Fire and Emergency spokesperson Paul Turner.
Ball says Tairāwhiti Civil Defence have made contact with 90 per cent of its communities and that he expects to make contact with 100 per cent of communities by the end of today.
He said 30 per cent of cell phone towers in the region are operational, with more unlikely to restart until the Chorus fibre connection is restored.
Ball says the Gisborne water treatment plant has also begun working again.
"We obviously still have teams working across the whole of the country that is impacted by the current event."
He paid tribute to the efforts of first responders and volunteers, iwi groups, agencies and public contractors.
"In my experience this is a massive event for New Zealand. It's the biggest damage from a weather event that I've seen and this is going to be a major focus for New Zealand and for the responding agencies for some time.
"One of our biggest priorities is making contact with isolated communities and then getting supplies to them urgently."
Police deputy commissioner Glenn Dunbier says there had been 4928 reports of people being uncontactable, at at 9pm on Friday.
Dunbier says 885 people have registered themselves as safe.
He says a team of about 100 personnel are working to match up the reports and he encourages people to update their report if they have made contact with their loved one.
Dunbier says nine people have been confirmed dead - seven in the eastern district, and two in Muriwai, Auckland.
This morning police announced a body had been found in the Hawke's Bay region in the aftermath of the cyclone.
Civil Defence is keeping a close eye on the high landslide risk in Piha and Muriwai today.
About 20 homes were evacuated in Piha due to land instability, and an exclusion zone is in place for a large part of Muriwai.
There are early signs of recovery in cyclone-ravaged Gisborne and Hawke's Bay, but the full picture of the scale of the damage is still emerging.
Tairawhiti Emergency Management says State Highway 2 between Opotiki and Wairoa was open during daylight hours.
RNZ
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