New Zealand: Auckland in state of emergency after torrential rains
A street in Auckland completely flooded by torrential rain on January 27, 2023. AP - Hayden Woodward
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
In New Zealand, the city of Auckland is in a state of emergency following the floods which blocked most of the city.
The provisional toll reports two dead and two missing.
Advertising
Read more
With our correspondent in Auckland,
Richard Tindiller
In the district of Kelston in the west of the city, the water rose to 1m50.
Kushla Patel and her husband had bought a house in this neighborhood barely a year ago;
it is now submerged by water.
“
My house is destroyed.
My husband got stuck with me.
Fortunately, we were rescued, because there was no way out
, ”she testifies.
In the neighborhood, Helen's house also suffered extensive damage in barely an hour.
“
The water has risen halfway up the walls.
The couch was floating, the fridge was floating too.
We lost everything
,” she laments.
Two months of rain fell in the space of a few hours on New Zealand's largest city.
Highways and the city center are flooded and more than 2,000 travelers are still stranded on the first floor of the airport after the water completely invaded the airport terminal.
Beyond the evacuations, the authorities also called on the inhabitants of Auckland not to consume tap water.
But most supermarkets were also overwhelmed by these torrents of water.
This Friday was recorded as the wettest day in Auckland's history, which is expected to see heavy downpours again overnight from Saturday to Sunday.
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
New Zealand
Natural disasters