At least one person died due to the intense rains and strong winds that hit New Zealand in recent days, rainfall that flooded large areas and left thousands of people without electricity, authorities reported.
The storm began on Friday and forced a state of emergency to be declared in the North Island, where the Waikato Regional Council, the local authority, said a downpour “unparalleled in 100 years” caused major flooding.
According to police, a man died on Friday after the vehicle he was driving became trapped in floodwaters near Otorohanga district.
The storm reached the country’s capital, Wellington, on Monday and moved towards Christchurch, on the South Island, on Tuesday.
Energy operator PowerCo said about 10,000 homes were without power on Tuesday in the southern North Island, and another electricity company, Orion, reported more than 200 homes were without power on Banks Peninsula, near Christchurch.
The town of Lake Ferry, near Wellington, was isolated because the storm destroyed the only access road and residents formed a human chain to bring supplies to the community, according to national television RNZ.
The town of Akaroa, near Christchurch, was also isolated on Tuesday by flooding and landslides on the road to the site, the New Zealand Transport Agency said.
Wellington this week recorded wind gusts of 193 km/h, the strongest since 2013, according to the MetService meteorological service.
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