WELLINGTON: Heavy rain and flooding that forecasters said might be a”once-in-a-100-year” occasion lasted to lash New Zealand’s South Island on Monday.
The heavy rain caused severe floods, evacuations of over 240 houses, electricity reductions and increasing rivers, reports Xinhua news service.
A number of bridges were broken amid the flooding.
In some eastern regions of Christchurch, the largest city at the Canterbury area, rivers ran after successive rains.
Some colleges needed to be closed on Monday because of high flood dangers in surrounding regions.
Over 1,000 homes were without electricity across Christchurch on Sunday night, with all freezing weather accompanying that the heavy rains.
Around 100 of those households still endured electricity outage on Monday.
Local police declared a state of local emergency to get the entire Canterbury area of the South Island.
People are advised to remain at home to prevent road closure and flood dangers.
Based on MetService, New Zealand’s national climate jurisdiction, the red alarm was raised to the Canterbury area as the rain began to facilitate on Monday.
Red amount warnings from the country have been”issued to the most intense weather programs that might cause widespread disturbance and acute effects”, based on MetService.