Floods to continue as new storms loom
New Zealand officials yesterday asked residents in the floodravaged city of Auckland to prepare for the incoming onslaught of another storm as residents start a clean-up following a series of floods and landslips across New Zealand’s biggest city over the weekend.
Four people lost their lives in flash floods and landslides that hit Auckland amid record downpours.
A state of emergency is in place in Auckland and Northland, the country’s northernmost region.
With more rain on the way, Auckland has already been swamped with record levels in the past four days, and sodden ground and full rivers mean new rainfall brings increased risks of flooding and landslips.
Beaches around the city of 1.6 million are off limits due to contaminated water, several main roads remain closed, and all Auckland schools will remain shut until Feb 7.
Evacuation centres have been set up across the city.
New Zealand weather information provider Metservice forecast another 12 to 24 hours of heavy rain across the country’s north from yesterday afternoon, with up to 120 millimetres expected in parts of Auckland.
“It’s lines of heavy rain coming in bands ... we do expect impacts during the overnight periods. So [expect] slips, further flooding,” MetService meteorologist Georgina Griffiths said during a televised media briefing.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said his government would accept his
Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese’s offer of urgent assistance with the floods.
“Absolutely, if there are ways that the Australians can help, we will absolutely take up those offers of support,” Mr Hipkins said ahead of a trip to Australia next week, his first foreign trip since becoming the country’s leader earlier this month in the wake of predecessor Jacinda Ardern’s resignation.
Auckland Emergency Management controller Rachel Kelleher said Auckland’s domestic airport was now running at full capacity, while Auckland International Airport was operating at near capacity and hoped to return to normal operations soon.
National carrier Air New Zealand said in a statement yesterday that it had added additional services and increased seat capacity to help its customers whose plans had been disrupted by the adverse weather.
Of the 9,000 passengers impacted by the weather, it had rebooked 7,800 as of yesterday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the city council has designated 77 houses as uninhabitable and has prevented people from entering them.
A further 318 properties were deemed at risk by the council, with access restricted to certain areas for short periods.
The insurance industry has said they expect the costs associated with the extreme flooding to top the NZ$97 million (about 2 billion baht) spent following 2021’s floods on New Zealand’s West Coast.