New Zealand’s death toll from heavy rain rose to four yesterday as flash floods and landslides on North Island continued for a third day.
Battered since Friday, Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, remained under a state of emergency.
The nation’s weather forecaster, MetService, warned of more severe weather yesterday and today for North Island.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Intense rainfall could also cause surface and flash flooding, it said.
“We know that there is potential for more adverse weather tonight,” Auckland Emergency Management controller Rachel Kelleher told reporters.
The emergency covers large swaths of North Island, with Waitomo District about 220km from Auckland, declaring a state of emergency late on Saturday.
A man missing after being swept away on Friday in Onewhero, a rural village about 70km south of Auckland, was confirmed dead, police said.
“The most horrific part of it is that we’ve lost lives,” New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni said in Auckland, a city of 1.6 million.
Climate change is causing episodes of heavy rainfall to become more common and more intense in New Zealand, although the impact varies by region.
New Zealand Climate Change Minister James Shaw noted the link to climate change on Saturday when he posted on Twitter his support for those affected by flooding.
Police yesterday said they were assisting with traffic management and road closures in Waitomo District after heavy rainfall “caused numerous slips, flooding and damage to roads.”
In nearby Bay of Plenty there was also “widespread flooding,” police said, as well as a landslide that had knocked down a house and was threatening neighboring properties.
Thousands of properties remained without power, while hundreds were without water, authorities said.
Still, Air New Zealand said international flights in and out of Auckland would resume at noon yesterday, a spokesperson said.
New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, less than a week in office, flew by helicopter over Auckland on Saturday and toured flood-hit homes.
He described the flood impact in the city as “unprecedented” in recent memory.
People made more than 2,000 calls for assistance and 70 evacuations around Auckland due to the inundation, the New Zealand Herald reported on Saturday.
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