“The rain must stop!”: Deaths after record rain in New Zealand At least three dead after record rain in Auckland, New Zealand

New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, continued to struggle over the weekend with heavy rainfall after a record rain on Friday. At least four people have been killed so far by the unusual summer storm, the New Zealand Herald newspaper and other media reported on Sunday.

Police had recently spoken of at least three deaths and one missing person in the region around the North Island city, which has a population of 1.6 million. The city council warned that it would continue to rain heavily until Monday morning.

Auckland International Airport – New Zealand’s largest airport – was also partially flooded. On Sunday, however, the first machines were able to take off and land there again, according to the website. Hundreds of travelers had been stranded there since Friday, photos showed waiting halls that were partly under water.

On Friday night, 80 percent of the rainfall otherwise measured during the summer fell within 15 hours in some parts of the city, according to the National Research Institute NIWA. The suburbs of Kumeu and Albany were particularly affected.

Authorities spoke of the “wettest day” since measurements began and declared a state of emergency. Firefighters used kayaks and jet skis to rescue people from homes.

Photos and videos showed cars floating in the floodwaters. Rescue workers have been working tirelessly since Friday to bring dozens of people to safety. Eyewitnesses reported the worst flooding they had ever experienced.

The previous victims died in different places. According to the police, a person drowned in a flooded parking garage. Another person died when a landslide hit a house.

Green politician Golriz Ghahraman tweeted on Friday that the scenes unfolding in the flooded areas were “terrifying”. She emphasized: “This is what we will experience again and again around the world because of the climate crisis, until we take it seriously in politics and in our actions.” Mayor Wayne Brown told Radio New Zealand: “The rain has got to stop, that’s the biggest problem.” (sda/dpa)