On Sunday, while authorities assessed the damage in the area most severely affected by four days of torrential rain, New Zealand kept a state of emergency in place in certain areas of its flood-devastated South Island.
More than 500 individuals were evicted from their houses last week due to rainfall in the north and centre, some of which were now unusable.
The city of Nelson on the South Island has been most severely impacted, but floods that submerged homes and highways have also blocked off villages on the North Island.However, no serious weather-related events or evacuations were reported by local authorities in the Nelson area over the course of the night.
Emergency management officials stated, “We are working as swiftly as we can to return people home safely,” noting that while they had inspected nearly half the damaged properties, thorough inspections might take days, depending on the weather.
We have a vast job, and checking for ground instability is trickier than checking for flooding.
While the intense weather has subsided, Metservice, a weather forecaster, warned against heavy rain in western Tasman and Fiordland on the South Island.
