New Zealand’s weather bureau has warned more flooding could hit the country’s North Island, a day after floods caused power outages, road collapses, home evacuations and caused the death of a man whose vehicle was submerged on a highway.
There was “threat to life from dangerous river conditions, significant flooding and slips” as a deepening low-pressure system east of the North Island brought heavy rain and severe gales to several regions, the weather bureau said.
The worst weather was forecast to hit late on Sunday, followed by a slow easing of conditions on Monday, it said on its website, after heavy rain began battering large swaths of the country on Friday, sparking the floods.
Authorities on Sunday had a state of emergency in place for the districts of Waipa and Otorohanga, an agricultural region home to about 10,000 people that is 180km (112 miles) south of the country’s most populous city, Auckland.
About 4,291 properties remained without power on the North Island, energy company Powerco said on its website.
On Saturday, a man apparently died in his car in flood waters, authorities said, adding that about 80 people were evacuated to an emergency centre. Images shared on social media showed vast semirural neighbourhoods submerged and collapsed sections of road where flood waters had receded.
Extreme rainfall is more common and more intense because of human-caused climate breakdown across most of the world, particularly in Europe, most of Asia, central and eastern North America, and parts of South America, Africa and Australia. This is because warmer air can hold more water vapour. Flooding has most likely become more frequent and severe in these locations as a result, but is also affected by human factors, such as the existence of flood defences and land use.
Six people were killed in January after heavy rains triggered a landslide at Mount Maunganui on the North Island’s east coast, bringing down soil and rubble on a site crowded with families on summer holidays.
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