Flood-devastated NZ city likely to take years to recover

NELSON (New Zealand) • A New Zealand city devastated by flooding will take years to recover, said its mayor yesterday, as hundreds more homes were evacuated.

The Pacific nation has been lashed by wild weather, with the Nelson-Tasman district on South Island bearing the brunt of 75cm of rain that fell over three days.

Several streets in the city of Nelson were flooded after the local river, the Maitai, burst its banks.

Nelson Mayor Rachel Reese said the damage to infrastructure will "take years, not months" to repair.

She added that it was "critical" Nelson's residents conserve water as the city's supply was disrupted by a landslide that damaged the main line from the local reservoir.

Visiting the area, New Zealand's Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty pledged NZ$200,000 (S$173,000) of aid and confirmed more than 400 homes have now been evacuated in Nelson, where a state of emergency remains in place.

He added that flooding and landslides have made 60 homes potentially uninhabitable.

Mr McAnulty said one of the most striking things he saw was a street in a housing development "where the road had just been washed out, (leaving) a crater deeper than I am tall".

Resident Paul Maskell said a neighbour alerted him to the rising water on his street. "By the time I got back, it was a foot deep in water with boulders running down the road. It was surreal," he told the New Zealand Herald.

Although South Island was bracing itself for another lashing of heavy rain, other regions did not escape the extreme weather.

Heavy rain has also hit North Island over the past 24 hours, with some towns cut off, roads and houses under water and people being evacuated. The city of New Plymouth endured its wettest August day since records began, with 10cm falling in 12 hours.

"More than a metre of rain has fallen, causing significant flows down all rivers," said Taranaki Civil Defence controller Todd Velvin, with flooding, road closures and fallen trees creating problems.

Kaitaia, a town near the top of North Island, was cut off by flooding and landslides, and around 400 homes were left without power in the far north.

Civil Defence Northland said in a Facebook post that some flooding was expected to ease as the tide falls, but some roads are still cut off. A heavy rain warning was in place until midnight yesterday.

University of Otago's geography lecturer Daniel Kingston attributed the heavy rain to an "atmospheric river" - a narrow band of water vapour high in the atmosphere over New Zealand. "It's safe to say that with respect to the influence of climate change, it is more than likely playing a role."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS