Deluges have devastated New Zealand, submerging highways, blacking out neighborhoods, and prompting mass evacuations under dire weather warnings. Sunday night looms as the storm’s savage peak, per the national bureau’s red and orange advisories.
Saturday’s grim toll: one man drowned in his car swept off a highway by flash floods – a grim harbinger of risks from surging waters and unstable terrain.
North Island’s east bears the storm’s fury from a low-pressure beast, brewing heavy showers, fierce winds, and river overflows primed for deadly flooding and landslips.
Waipa and Otorohanga, dairy-rich zones 112 miles south of bustling Auckland and sheltering 10,000, now operate under emergency protocols. Powerco tallies 4,291 darkened addresses island-wide.
Air New Zealand yanked Wellington-bound regional flights post-Sunday lunch, per COO Alex Marron, who blamed blistering winds for the shutdown.
Friday’s barrage set the stage, engorging streams, buckling infrastructure, and severing electricity. Online images paint a watery apocalypse: inundated suburbs, ravaged roads, rescue ops saving 80 lives to safe havens.
Monday’s forecast hints at respite, but dangers linger. Leaders beseech caution – track alerts, sidestep floods, stock essentials. This watery wrath etches lessons on resilience amid volatile skies.