'Dangerous' rain forecast after storms kill four people in Auckland floods

30 January 2023 , 14:53

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'Dangerous' rain forecast after storms kill four people in Auckland floods

Kiwis have been warned that the situation in flood-hit Auckland, New Zealand is likely to get worse after “unprecedented” floods killed at least four people.

An estimated 24 centimetres of rainfall – equal to an entire summer’s worth of rain – fell on Auckland on Friday, making it the city’s wettest day on record.

The worst is still to come despite 5,000 homes and businesses already being assessed for flood and landslide damage.

“Tuesday is the day we are most concerned about. We are really concerned about the areas north of Auckland. They seem to bear the brunt of the next heavy rainfall event", the MetService told CNN.

A property where an a man was found dead after a landslide following floods in Auckland (Getty Images)

The flooding has been so severe, it caused an Emirates flight from Dubai to turn around halfway through its journey after the torrential downpour meant the airport had to close.

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Videos from the airport show people wading through knee-deep water inside the terminal buildings.

Four people have died and Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni told reporters in Auckland: "The most horrific part of it is that we’ve lost lives."

Auckland Zoo said alligators and bearded dragons had to be moved to higher ground before the water rose to chest height and at Auckland Art Gallery, hundreds of precious artworks had to be relocated.

New Zealand's largest city, Auckland, was hit with a historic amount of torrential rainfall (Getty Images)

Gallery director Kirsten Lacy said a team of 30 had been working on Saturday and Sunday to relocate 300 artworks and assess any water damage, she said.

Elton John was also forced to cancel his concert just 30 minutes before it started on Saturday, leaving 40,000 revellers heartbroken and many stranded.

Due to the late notice of the cancellation, most of the concertgoers had already arrived at the stadium and videos from inside and around the Mt Smart stadium showed flooding reaching above ankle height.

A family begins clearing flood-damaged property from their home (Getty Images)

One Twitter user wrote: “It is NUTS that the Elton John concert was cancelled so late. Eleven THOUSAND people were already there when the call was made?"

Another said: “We can’t get home after Elton John cancelled. All the roads home are flooded. I’ve seen cars completely submerged under water. Dangerous out here, wish they’d cancelled earlier,” one fan tweeted.

Rachel Hagan