New Zealand has been hit by floods and landslides for the third day

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Torrential rains battered New Zealand’s North Island again on Sunday, triggering landslides and flash floods and destroying roads, with the death toll rising to four after a missing person was confirmed dead.

Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city with a population of 1.6 million, remains under a state of emergency, amid torrential rain since Friday. The country’s forecaster, MetService, warned of more severe weather on Sunday and Monday for the North Island. She added that heavy rainfall may also cause surface and rapid flooding.

Since then, the focus of the emergency has shifted south, with the Waitomo region – located about 220 kilometers (137 miles) from Auckland – declaring a state of emergency late Saturday.

Police confirmed that a man who went missing after being washed away on Friday in the rural village of Onehiro, 70 km south of Auckland, had died.

“The most terrible part of it is that we lost lives,” Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Cipollone told reporters in Auckland.

Climate change is causing bouts of heavy rainfall to become more common and more intense in New Zealand, although the impact varies by region. Climate Change Secretary James Shaw made the connection to climate change on Saturday when he tweeted his support for those affected by the floods.

On Sunday, police said they were helping to manage traffic and road closures in that area after heavy rains “caused many slides and floods and damaged roads”.

In the nearby Bay of Plenty there was also “widespread flooding”, police said, as well as a landslide that destroyed a home and threatened nearby properties.

On Sunday, the authorities said that thousands of properties are still without electricity, while water has been cut off for hundreds.

But Air New Zealand said the airline’s international flights to and from Auckland will resume at noon on Sunday (2300 GMT Saturday).

On Saturday, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins’ helicopter, less than a week away, flew over Auckland before touring flood-swept homes. He described the flood’s impact on the city as “unprecedented” in recent memory.

The New Zealand Herald reported Saturday that people had made more than 2,000 calls for help and 70 evacuations around Auckland – the country’s largest city – because of the flooding.

(Reporting by Sam McKeith). Editing by Josie Kao and Edwina Gibbs

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