New Zealand’s west coast has been hit by severe flooding, with a local state of emergency declared and thousands evacuated from their homes.
The latest floods arrived in the aftermath of heavy rains and storms over the past two months that prompted states of emergency in Canterbury and Wellington.
In parts of the west coast, about 300mm of rain fell over a single weekend — about one month’s average rainfall concentrated into two days.
The heavy rain caused landslides, rivers to break their banks and more than 2,000 residents to be evacuated.
While no single flooding event can be directly attributed to climate change, scientists have long warned that global warming would increase the number and likelihood of extreme weather events, including flooding, wildfires and heat waves. As the atmosphere gets warmer, it holds more moisture, which in turn leads to heavier rainfall.
The New Zealand government on Sunday announced NZ$600,000 (US$418,875) in emergency aid to the affected districts.
“While it is too early to know the full cost of the damage, we expect it to be significant ... a big cleanup and recovery effort lies ahead,” New Zealand Acting Minister of Emergency Management Kris Faafoi said.
New Zealand Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor announced financial support for farmers, saying that “the scale of impact is beyond the communities’ ability to cope.”
While flood waters were receding, cleanup of the region is expected to take some time.
“In most cases it will take months, rather than weeks, to completely restore your home(s)” the West Coast District Health board said in a statement.
Faafoi on Sunday said that about 1,000 people were still out of their homes in Westport.
The extreme weather comes as other parts of the world are reeling from flooding, including Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, London, Edinburgh and Tokyo. The floods across western Germany and Belgium have killed more than 180 people.
Internationally, the floods have been prompting a political reckoning over climate change. Asked whether climate change had contributed to the disastrous floods in Europe, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that was “without a doubt the case.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that her nation had to “up the pace in the fight against climate change.”
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