NZ: Dozens of houses inundated; flood rescues underway

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People trapped by rising floodwaters in west Auckland are being rescued by the fire service.

A heavy downpour dropped 65mm of rain on west Auckland in just one hour, at about midday, causing flash-flooding and inundating nearly 180 homes, some of them waist-deep.

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The Fires Service’s northern communications centre said homes had been flooded in Glen Eden (65), Titirangi (43), Henderson (30), Avondale (20), West Harbour (10), and Te Atatu (8).

A car drives through surface flooding on Gillies Ave, Auckland. Photo: Supplied / @lovedominionrd

Multiple people had been trapped in floodwaters on Great North Road in New Lynn and there were also reports of people trapped in shops in the suburb, the service said.

Crews were setting up lines to rescue those trapped, saying they were suffering from exposure.

It had also received reports of other flooding in nearly a dozen suburbs: Kaukapakapa, Devonport, Parnell, Remuera, Eden Terrace, Blockhouse Bay, Morningside, Massey, Westgate, Whenuapai, and New Lynn.

The service had activated its ‘multiple incident procedure’, it said.

Wellington City Council said its crews were dealing with landslips in the central suburb of Newtown, after 28mm of rain fell in six hours this morning.

Flooding has closed Grays Rd in Plimmerton, the Transport Agency said.

There was also surface flooding on Hutt Road between Ngauranga and Petone, and on Mana Esplanade, but both those roads remained open.

MetService earlier issued a severe weather warning for the region, along with other parts of the central and lower North Island.

Record amounts of rain over the last two days flooded parts of the Auckland region, Northland and Coromandel.

Auckland received an entire month’s worth of rain in 10 hours yesterday morning, with houses flooded in many suburbs.

MetService said a trough was crossing central New Zealand today, while a separate low would move south-east across the northern North Island.

Eastern Bay of Plenty could receive another 50mm to 70mm on top of what had already fallen, it said.

Up to 25mm of rain could fall per hour at peak intensity, it said.

“Rainfall in these areas, especially where there the ground is sodden from previous heavy rain, is likely to cause rivers and streams to rise rapidly,” Metservice said.

“It can also lead to flash flooding and hazardous driving conditions.”

Similar amounts of rain were forecast for the lower North Island and Marlborough, with 60mm to 90mm expected in Taranaki, Horowhenua, Kapiti Coast, Wellington, Nelson and northern Marlborough, from early this morning until mid-afternoon.

In Wellington, Kapiti and Horowhenua, the rain could reach a peak of 15 to 25mm per hour, and thunderstorms were also possible.

Wind warning for Auckland

Metservice also warned of severe gales in the northern North Island, with northerly gales in the morning swivelling round to the west from about midday.

Auckland civil defence said the worst of the wind and rain would hit around midday.

“This is a fast moving and very unstable system with a risk of small tornadoes anywhere across the region.”

Great Barrier Island was likely to bear the brunt, with gusts of up to 120km/h possible, civil defence said.

Crews in Auckland worked through the night to restore power to more than 1000 homes that were hit by power outages during yesterday’s rainstorm.

Power company Vector said there was one remaining outage, on Kawakawa Bay Coast Road, affecting about 16 homes.

There were still slips in the area and the ground would need to be stabilised before services could be reinstated, it said.

Affected residents were using generators for power supply and had been advised that it was likely to be several days before the network could be repaired.

The Transport Agency said all highways in Coromandel, many of which had been closed by flooding, were now open but drivers should be cautious.

Clevedon, near the Hunua Ranges south-east of Auckland, was starting to prepare for when the water on its properties and roads subsided, by stocking up on supplies.

Torrential rain cut off roads in the town and killed livestock.

Clevedon Rural Supplies employee Penny Gross said locals had been buying gumboots and gloves to clean up the silt.

The business had also sold large amounts of animal feed because other feed had been ruined in the flooding.

-Radio NZ

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