A state of emergency has been declared in Auckland, New Zealand after severe flooding saw people forced to evacuate their homes, and closed the city’s international airport.
Dramatic footage on social media shows firefighters rescuing stranded people from their homes using ropes and rescue boats, and the main terminal of the airport underwater.
New Zealand weather agency MetService warned of flash flooding and hazardous driving conditions throughout the city.
On Friday night, transport authorities closed parts of State Highway 1, the main highway that bisects Auckland.
Lawmaker Ricardo Menéndez posted a video of water surging into homes . “We’ve just had to evacuate our home as the water was already rising rapidly and coming in aggressively,” he tweeted.
There were no official reports of casualties but police confirmed a body had been found on the city’s North Shore.
Prime minister Chris Hipkins said on Friday evening that “all relevant government agencies are working flat out to help in an extraordinary set of circumstances”.
“The emergency response is underway and the government is ready to assist as needed,” he said.
The national civil defence minister, Kieran McAnulty, said Auckland mayor Wayne Brown had declared a state of emergency and urged people to follow advice from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
Emergency services were “overwhelmed” by calls on Friday night, police said in a statement, asking Aucklanders to “please only call 111 if you are in a life-threatening emergency.”
The country’s deputy prime minister, Carmel Sepuloni, said on Twitter that there was “significant flooding” in parts of the city, using the Maori name for the city of TÄmaki Makaurau.
She also said she had visited an evacuation centre set up at St Leonard’s School in the suburb of Kelston.
Auckland Airport said it had reduced its runway operations after an arriving aircraft had damaged runway lighting.
“This is largely impacting international arrivals and departures and larger aircraft travelling domestically,” the airport wrote on Twitter. “Our maintenance team is on site and is working hard to fix the damage.”
An Elton John concert that was due to be attended by 40,000 people in the city was also cancelled.
"Given the weather, tonight’s show has been cancelled. Our operations team is working to redirect special event buses to help get people back home," Auckland Transport said in a statement on Twitter.
