Last Friday, a state of emergency was declared in the New Zealand city of Auckland after record-breaking torrential rainfall resulted in the death of at least one person. As AccuWeather reports, more than a foot of rain poured down across the city, prompting the closure of some major highways, multiple water rescues and even the cancellation of an Elton John concert that was expected to draw 40,000 fans.
Police were notified just before 7:30 p.m. of a body found in the floodwaters, Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown confirmed late Friday evening, the New Zealand Herald reported. The identity of the victim, who was found in a culvert, has not been released, according to the Herald.
Police recovered a second body in a flooded carpark, according to the Associated Press (AP). Fire and emergency response crews announced a third fatality after responding to a landslide that caused major damage to a home in Remuera, an inner-city suburb of Auckland. On Sunday, a fourth fatality was declared as the flooding and landslides continued to impact the north island, according to Rueters.
Videos shared online showed people wading through waist-deep water as the heavy deluge of rain made highways and local roads impassable to vehicles. Numerous shelters were opened across the city to assist with people displaced by the flooding.
According to the weather service in New Zealand, Auckland observed 79% of its normal summer rainfall amount in just 15 hours on Friday. Albany recorded 75% of its average summer rain.
Despite the relentless rain, many Elton John concert ticketholders braved the conditions on Friday evening to travel to Mt. Smart Stadium in Auckland. However, just minutes after the scheduled start time of 7:30 p.m. and while thousands of people were already at the venue, concert promoter Frontier Touring announced the show would be canceled due to “unsafe weather conditions.”
Many concertgoers voiced their disappointment and frustrations on Twitter. One user wrote that concert organizers shouldn’t have waited until the last minute to cancel the concert. “Should have been canceled earlier,” a Twitter user wrote. “We have traveled down from Northland and can’t get home…Thankfully have friends to help us, but there will be hundreds of out-of-town people stuck.”
Also canceled were all domestic and international flights at Auckland Airport until Saturday after an arriving aircraft damaged the runway lighting amid the heavy rain. Inside the airport, terminals were inundated with floodwaters, and the international terminal was closed after floodwaters covered the ground.
More than 2,000 travelers and airport staff were stranded at the airport after heavy rains cut off roadways, 1 News reported. “This is not the start any of us wanted for the long weekend in Auckland. We want to genuinely thank travelers for their patience overnight,” Auckland Airport Chief Executive Carrie Hurihanganui said, according to 1 News.
According to the New Zealand Herald, Mayor Brown was under increasing pressure to declare a state of emergency as the rain poured down on the city on Friday. Brown defended his decision of waiting until close to 10 p.m. Friday to declare a state of emergency in a press conference, noting the process is a “formal process, not to be taken lightly.”
“This is a formal, serious business, and the effects of it will go on for some time,” Brown said at a press conference.” And my role isn’t to rush out with buckets. It’s to be here ensuring that the [center] is well [organized] and that we are taking the appropriate steps at the appropriate time, not rushing into them in response to noise outside.”
AccuWeather International Meteorologist Jason Nicholls said the heavy rain in Auckland was a result of moisture from a former tropical depression. “A low that was a former tropical depression slowly drifted southeast toward New Zealand’s northern island,” Nicholls said, noting the system was fueled with tropical moisture.
Nicholls said that the Auckland area typically experiences wetter weather in the winter compared to the summer. But since this is the time of year when there is tropical development in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, some tropical systems can drift as far south as New Zealand, delivering tropical moisture to the area during the summer months.
“Additional showers are likely this weekend,” Nicholls noted. “There is a risk of heavier rain on Tuesday, but nothing like what [Auckland] just experienced.”
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