3 dead, state of emergency in New Zealand’s largest city after record rainfall

Authorities said on Saturday that three people were dead and at least one was missing after record levels of rainfall hit New Zealand’s largest city, causing widespread disruption.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins flew to Auckland on a military plane after a state of emergency was declared in the region.

“Our priority is to make sure Aucklanders are safe, housed and have access to the essential services they need,” Hipkins said.

He said the city is in for a major cleanup and people should stay indoors if possible. He said the break in the weather could prove to be temporary, with more heavy rain forecast.

“This is an unprecedented event in recent memory,” Hipkins said.

The wettest day

Friday was Auckland’s wettest day on record, according to the weather agency, with the average amount of rain falling all summer in one day. On Friday evening, more than 150 millimeters of rain fell in just three hours in some places.

The rain closed the highway and water flowed into the house. Hundreds of people were stranded at Auckland Airport overnight after the airport grounded all flights and parts of the terminal were flooded.

Police said they found the bodies of one man in a flooded culvert and another in a flooded car park. He said fire and emergency crews found a third body after a landslide swept away a house on the outskirts of Remuera. One person remains missing after being swept away by floodwaters, police said.

Hipkins said power has been restored in many places, although about 3,500 homes remain without power.

Videos posted online show chest-deep water in several places.

Legislator Ricardo Menendez posted a video of water pouring into the house. “We just had to evacuate our homes because the water is rising fast and coming in aggressively,” he tweeted.

2,000 emergency calls

Fire and Emergency New Zealand said crews had responded to more than 700 incidents in the area and staff had taken more than 2,000 emergency calls.

“We have all career crews and volunteers on the road responding to the most serious events,” district manager Brad Mosby said.

Mosby said crews have rescued 126 people who were trapped in their homes or cars, or who were involved in vehicle accidents.

Air New Zealand said it was resuming domestic flights in and out of Auckland on Saturday afternoon, but was not sure when international flights would resume.

“The flooding has had a huge impact on our Auckland operations,” said David Morgan, the airline’s chief operational integrity and security officer. “We are working to get our customers to their final destination and get the crew and aircraft back to the right place. It may take a few days to get everything back on track.”

In a series of updates on Twitter, Auckland Airport said people could leave the airport early on Saturday for homes or accommodation after hundreds stayed at the terminal.

“It’s been a long and challenging night at Auckland Airport; we thank everyone for their patience,” the airport wrote.

“Unfortunately, due to previous flooding in the baggage area, we are currently unable to return your checked baggage to you,” the airport wrote. “Your airline will make return arrangements at a later date.”

Elton John’s concert was cancelled

The storm also caused Elton John’s concert to be canceled before it started on Friday night. A second concert by John planned at the stadium on Saturday night was also cancelled.

Around 40,000 people are expected to attend each concert at the Mt Smart Stadium. Thousands were already at the venue that night when the organizers decided to cancel shortly before John was due to take the stage at 19:30.

Many concertgoers who have been in the situation are frustrated because the decision hasn’t been made hours before.

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown defended criticism that his office did not take the situation seriously and did not declare an emergency until around 9.30am on Friday.

He said the timing of the emergency declaration was guided by experts.

“We’re going to look into everything that happened,” Brown said. “We need to make coordination, and consultation with the public, right.”