Three people have died and at least one person is missing as a result of torrential rain that has caused major flooding and multitudinous evacuations in New Zealand, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said Saturday. “The loss of life underscores just the sheer scale of this rainfall event and how snappily it turned woeful,” Hipkins said in a press briefing after meeting with emergency services and surveying the damage in Auckland. “It’s clear that it’s going to be a big remittal job,” Hipkins said.
In New Zealand it was reported on Saturday that Hipkins had travelled to Whenuapai, north of Auckland, to visit affected communities. “My studies are with everyone in Auckland as they wake up this morning to survey the damage and as they face an uncertain day ahead,” Hipkins said on social media Saturday. A state of exigency remained in place in the megacity of 1.6 million people on Saturday as the torrential rains eased after Friday’s rain and flooding, which marked the wettest day ever recorded in Auckland, according to rainfall agencies.
The amount of rain that would generally fall during the entire summer hit the area in a single day with further than 150 mm (6 elevation) of rain falling in just three hours in some places. Police said they set up a man’s body in a swamped kennel and another in a swamped auto demesne. They said one person was missing after being swept down by floodwaters, while another remained unaccounted for after a landslide brought down a house in the suburb of Remuera. While the heavy rain had eased on Saturday, another spell of cloudbursts was possible on Sunday, the public rainfall foreseer said, adding that its effect was “anticipated to be severe and wide- reaching because of the impregnated ground”.