SYDNEY, Feb 15 (Reuters) – New Zealand’s weather forecaster on Sunday warned more flooding could hit the country’s North Island, a day after floods caused power outages, road collapses, home evacuations and was linked to the death of a man whose vehicle was submerged on a highway.
There was “threat to life from dangerous river conditions, significant flooding and slips” as a deepening low-pressure system east of the North Island brought heavy rain and severe gales to several regions, the weather bureau said.
The worst weather was forecast to hit late on Sunday, followed by a slow easing of conditions on Monday, it said on its website, after heavy rain began battering large swaths of the country on Friday, sparking the floods.
Authorities on Sunday had a state of emergency in place for the districts of Waipa and Otorohanga, an agricultural region home to about 10,000 people that is 180 km (112 miles) south of the country’s most populous city, Auckland.
The Otorohanga District Council said on Facebook that geotechnical teams “spent the night assessing slips and checking the structural stability of roads” in the area. Some 4,291 properties remained without power on the North Island, energy company Powerco said on its website.
On Saturday, a man apparently died in his car in floodwaters, authorities said, adding that about 80 people were evacuated to an emergency centre. Images shared on social media showed vast semirural neighbourhoods submerged and collapsed sections of road where floodwaters had receded.
Six people were killed in January after heavy rains triggered a landslide at Mount Maunganui on the North Island’s east coast, bringing down soil and rubble on a site crowded with families on summer holidays.
(Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by Rod Nickel and Jamie Freed)
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