“Frightening”: New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, is flooded Palestinians end cooperation with Israel

After massive rainfall in the middle of New Zealand’s summer, large parts of the largest city, Auckland, are under water. The citizens of the North Island metropolis with a population of 1.6 million were asked by civil protection to come to safety.

The National Research Institute NIWA said that in some parts of the city, 80 percent of the rainfall otherwise measured throughout the summer fell within 15 hours. The suburbs of Kumeu and Albany were particularly hard hit.

“It is possible that parts of Auckland will get as much rain in one day as they would in an entire summer,” NIWA tweeted. Firefighters used kayaks and jet skis to rescue people from their homes. A planned concert by Elton John at Mount Smart Stadium, which 40,000 fans wanted to attend, was canceled for safety reasons.

Numerous roads were closed. There was a power cut in parts of Auckland. Airport terminals were also flooded. Green politician Golriz Ghahraman tweeted that the scenes that took place in the flooded areas were “terrifying” and stressed: “This is what we will see over and over again around the world because of the climate crisis until we see it in politics and take it seriously . in our dealings.” Mayor Wayne Brown told Radio New Zealand: “The rain has got to stop, that’s the biggest problem.” (aeg/sda/dpa)