New Zealand: Downpour eases after forcing hundreds from homes

Heavy rains in New Zealand's northern and central regions eased after four days. The near-constant downpour has already forced hundreds of people from their homes. There were 100 new evacuations overnight.

Nelson, the city in the South Island of the country is the worst affected due to the rain. Hundreds of homes have been evacuated over the week. The lashing from rain has rendered some of the homes uninhabitable. In the North Island, towns have been cut off due to roads and homes being submerged under water.

"Things going forward look quite different from this past week," the Metservice weather forecaster said in a Twitter post. "Most of the rainfall activity is still mainly in the west, but with much lower accumulations."

Earlier, it had said warnings and watch alerts were lifted after rain eased in northern and central areas.

On Saturday, more evacuations took place in Nelson. Kieran McAnulty, the emergency minister thanked those who assisted in the rescue effort. However, McAnulty added that area's recovery would be a "long and difficult" process.
"States of emergency remain ... in Nelson-Tasman, Marlborough and West Coast," he said on Twitter.

There were about 100 new evacuations overnight, the New Zealand Herald said.

In the Tasman district neighbouring Nelson, a total of 508 homes had been evacuated, emergency authorities said, and the figure could grow.

"That looks set to increase even more," Nelson Tasman civil defence officials said on Facebook.

(With inputs from agencies)

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