At least four people died in the sinking of a fishing boat in New Zealand as severe storms swept across the country on Monday, including flooding in Auckland, the largest city, officials said.
Four bodies have been recovered and one person was missing after their boat sank on Sunday evening in a storm off the Northland region in the north of the New Zealand archipelago, police said. Five survivors were taken to hospital.
The storm then moved south, reaching Auckland on Monday morning, where 76.8mm of rain poured in an hour, the city’s second-ever record rainfall in that timeframe, the services said. meteorological.
Motorways have been cut due to flooding, schools have closed and ferry connections have been suspended due to heavy swells.
Six thunderstorms were heading south and were expected to reach the city of Hamilton Monday afternoon.
The weather services lifted the alerts while warning that “wet weather will continue for many this week as a deep low pressure system approaches from the west”.