At least 4 dead as New Zealand roiled by flash floods, landslides for third day
- Police confirm that a man who was missing after being swept away on Friday in Onewhero, a rural village near Auckland, has died
- Auckland and now Waitomo District under state of emergency, with forecaster warning of more severe weather to come
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 on Sunday and Monday for the north island. Intense rainfall could also cause surface and flash flooding, it said.
“We know that there is potential for more adverse weather tonight,” said Auckland Emergency Management controller Rachel Kelleher.
The emergency covers large swathes of the north island, with Waitomo District – about 220km (140 miles) 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.
On Friday night, two bodies were found in floodwater at separate locations in the northern suburb of Wairau Valley, and a third was discovered on Saturday after a landslide brought down a home in central Auckland.
“The flooding situation has been a traumatic experience for everyone in Auckland,” New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni told reporters in the city on Sunday. “The most horrific part of it is that we’ve lost lives.”
The country’s largest city saw 249mm of rainfall on Friday, smashing the previous record of 161mm in a 24-hour period.
Climate change is causing episodes of heavy rainfall to become more common and more intense in New Zealand, though the impact varies by region. Climate Change Minister James Shaw noted the link to climate change on Saturday when he tweeted his support for those affected by flooding.
Police said on Sunday 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 neighbouring properties.
Thousands of properties remained without power, while hundreds were without water, authorities said.
Auckland Airport reopened for international arrivals and departures on Sunday morning, with a Jetstar flight leaving for Sydney just before 7am local time. An Air New Zealand flight from Los Angeles was the first international arrival.
The airport said more than 1,000 travellers were still waiting at the international terminal on Sunday, with Chief Executive Officer Carrie Hurihanganui cautioning that it may take some time for services to return to normal.
More than 1,000 meals, 500 blankets and hundreds of water bottles were given to passengers on Saturday, with families and elderly sleeping overnight at the Auckland Airport Marae, a traditional Maori meeting house.
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 – the nation’s largest city – due to the inundation, The New Zealand Herald reported Saturday.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse, Bloomberg
