New Zealand has maintained a state of emergency in parts of its flood-hit South Island as authorities assess the damage in the region worst hit by four days of torrential rain. Last week’s rains in the northern and central regions forced more than 500 people from their homes, making some uninhabitable. The South Island city of Nelson was the worst affected, but North Island towns were also cut off by floods that inundated roads and homes.
Authorities in the region around Nelson said there were no other serious weather incidents or evacuations overnight Saturday into Sunday.”We are working as fast as we can to get people home safely,” emergency management officials said, adding that while they had inspected about half of the affected properties, detailed inspections could take days and would depend on ongoing weather conditions.”We have a big task and controlling soil instability is more difficult than flooding.”
While the extreme weather has eased, warnings for heavy rain remain in western Tasman and Fiordland in the South Island, forecaster Metservice said on its website. A state of emergency remains in place in the Marlborough, West Coast and Nelson-Tasman regions, national emergency officials said. “Listen to local authorities and follow all evacuation instructions,” the agency said on its website. “If you don’t feel safe, you should evacuate yourself. On Saturday, Kieran McAnulty, the emergency management minister, thanked emergency workers but added that the recovery was likely to be a “long and difficult” process.
