Residents in low-lying areas of New Zealand’s capital city Wellington were urged to evacuate on Monday, as heavy rain continued to drench the city, which experienced flash flooding overnight.
A state of emergency was declared for the region on Monday afternoon, while weather forecaster MetService upgraded its heavy rain warning to red, the highest level, which indicates a threat to life from dangerous river conditions, significant flooding and slips.
Mayor Andrew Little told state-owned Radio New Zealand that Wellington had received 77mm (three inches) of rain in less than an hour, its heaviest rainfall on record.
The deluge caused flash flooding, road closures and landslides in the city’s central business district and southern suburbs.
Media reported people had to escape flooded homes during the night and at least one landslide hit a home. A number of streets in the city were evacuated and the Fire and Emergency service said they responded to 150 calls for help overnight.
A search was under way for a man living at a property that was flooded in the suburb of Karori, police said in a statement.
The weather had cleared for a few hours earlier on Monday, allowing some of the floodwaters to dissipate, but further heavy rain is now hitting the city.
MetService is warning that rains could worsen later in the day.
Wellington Region Emergency Management Office in an advisory told residents in flood-prone spots to move to higher ground for at least the next 24 hours.
A help centre for the region, which has a population of around 521,000, has been set up for those who need to evacuate.
New Zealand has been pounded by heavy rains in the past few days. The Wellington region was hit by severe weather that caused flood damage overnight on Friday, while much of the northern part of the North Island was affected by Cyclone Vaianu a week ago.
“Despite best efforts, there isn’t always time to get official warnings out and flooding can be very localised making it hard to predict where exactly it’ll happen,” Lauren Vinnell, senior lecturer of emergency management at Massey University, said in a statement.
The heavy rain warning is in place until Tuesday evening.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg