climate crisis
Dead after record rain in New Zealand
Large parts of Auckland are under water after heavy rainfall. photo
© Li Qiaoqiao/XinHua/dpa
A sudden torrential downpour in the middle of New Zealand’s summer has flooded parts of Auckland, the country’s largest city, and triggered landslides. It continued to rain over the weekend.
New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, continued to struggle with heavy rainfall over the weekend after record rain on Friday. At least four people have been killed by the unusual summer storm so far, the New Zealand Herald newspaper and other media wrote on Sunday.
The police had recently spoken of at least three dead and one missing person in the region around the 1.6 million city on the North Island. The city government warned that it would continue to rain heavily at least until Monday morning.
As much rain as usual in the whole summer
Auckland International Airport – New Zealand’s largest airport – was also partially submerged. On Sunday, however, the first machines were able to take off and land there again, according to the website. Hundreds of travelers had been stranded there since Friday, photos showed waiting halls that were partly under water.
On the night of Friday, in some areas of the city, 80 percent of the rainfall that is otherwise measured throughout the summer fell within 15 hours, according to the National Research Institute NIWA. The suburbs of Kumeu and Albany were particularly affected.
Authorities spoke of the “wettest day” since records began and declared a state of emergency. Firefighters used kayaks and jet skis to rescue people from homes.
Photos and videos showed cars floating in the floods. Rescue workers have been working tirelessly since Friday to bring dozens of people to safety. Eyewitnesses reported the worst flooding they had ever experienced.
The consequences of the climate crisis are noticeable
The previous victims died in different places. According to the police, a person drowned in a flooded parking garage. Another person died when a landslide hit a house.
Green politician Golriz Ghahraman tweeted on Friday that the scenes that took place in the flooded areas were “terrifying”. She emphasized: “This is what we will experience again and again around the world because of the climate crisis, until we take it seriously in politics and in our actions.” Mayor Wayne Brown told Radio New Zealand: “The rain has to stop, that’s the main problem.”