Chaos as cyclone delivers final shot
The remnants of former Cyclone Debbie are continuing to cause chaos, with landslides and flooding across New Zealand forcing evacuations and shutting roads.
It is set to continue, as well, with more heavy rain forecast into today for most of the North Island and parts of the South Island.
Downpours with an intensity of up to 45mm an hour are possible.
In the eastern Bay of Plenty, two people were in a courier van that became stuck in floodwaters when the van’s engine failed in Otakiri.
The fire service said the pair were rescued from the van just before midday but it was decided the vehicle would be left in the waters until it was safe to remove it.
More than a hundred children have been stranded in Port Waikato by a large slip.
A statement from the Waikato District Council said 150 children would remain in the area overnight due to the slip.
Meanwhile, in Auckland, about 18,000 properties were without power, while the backyards of three clifftop properties on the North Shore are slipping on to the beach below.
One of the houses is just 10 metres from the cliff.
East Coast Bays fire station officer Martyn Baker said ‘‘truckloads’’ of cliff had slid down on to the beach, and residents had been told not to go on their decks.
In the east Auckland suburb of Kohimarama, residents of an apartment building hit by a slip were told to leave their homes with only essential items.
A wall of mud smashed into the block of flats on Tuesday night, leaving emergency services desperately trying to account for residents. For two hours it was not clear if a person was in their home, but police later said all residents had been accounted for.
Three homes in Titirangi’s Grendon Rd were cleared by police yesterday morning after a river of mud and trees washed down a hillside. Meanwhile, residents of nearby Landing Rd were trapped in their homes by the mud.
Waikato police Senior Sergeant Dean Anderson said a witness phoned police reporting to have seen a person disappear beneath the water in the river Ngaruawahia around 1.30pm. A police unit had responded. Meanwhile, residents in the seaside village of Waharau on the Firth of Thames were told they had two hours if they wanted to at leave before the settlement was cut off. Road access north was blocked by a slip and access from the south would be closed as a bridge on the East Coast Rd north of Kaiaua became unsafe for vehicles, the Hauraki District Council said.
The weather caused several highway closures in the North Island, and in many places highways are down to one lane.
Major impacts included the closure of the main route between Taranaki and Waikato, with State Highway 3 closed east of Awakino as a result of flooding and slips.
A large slip closed SH1 at one point around the edge of Lake Taupo. A stretch of SH25 north of Thames was closed because of multiple slips.
A section of SH15, between Whangarei and Kaikohe, was closed because of flooding.
SH30 was closed northeast of Rotorua by a large slip, while flooding closed SH34 between Edgecumbe and Te Teko.
Heavy rain was expected to continue in some places until early this morning, Metservice said.
‘‘The heaviest rain is expected from Northland to Whanganui, including Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty, the Central North Island High Country, Gisborne, Hawkes Bay, Wairarapa and the Kaikoura Coast.
‘‘There is also potential for thunderstorms and downpours with hourly rainfall rates of 25 to 45mm.’’
Heavy rain was also possible in Marlborough, Nelson, Banks Peninsula and North Canterbury.
In Christchurch, temporary water pumps were set up in preparation.