After devastating floods in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, the Pacific state is once again threatened with heavy rainfall. A state of emergency has been declared for the next seven days in the Northland region, which stretches from Auckland to the northern tip of the country.
The trigger for the recent storm is an “atmospheric current” moving over the North Island. These bands of moisture-saturated air typically bring several days of heavy rainfall. On Tuesday it was already raining heavily in Northland. Roads were closed and electricity was out in some places. Supermarkets announced they would close earlier to prepare for the storm.
“It’s a serious situation,” meteorologist Georgina Griffiths told Radio New Zealand. The main danger is that the soil is already saturated. As a result, heavy precipitation quickly led to flooding and flash flooding. Griffiths said it was the wettest January on record.
Floods have claimed human lives
At least four people have been killed in Auckland since Friday. Eyewitnesses reported the worst flooding they had ever experienced. The airport of the metropolis with 1.6 million inhabitants was partially flooded over the weekend.
As a result, numerous flights were cancelled. Hundreds of travelers were stranded at the airport at the start of the weekend. Others are now trapped abroad: according to media reports, passengers in Singapore, for example, were desperately trying to board a plane to Auckland. Some had been warned it could take until early March for that to happen, it said. Due to the canceled flights, the connections to New Zealand are heavily congested.
Source: Krone
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