Thousands evacuated in New Zealand amid Cyclone Debbie floods

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Rescue workers used tractors and boats to evacuate thousands of people at the top of New Zealand’s North Island on Thursday as flood waters from ex-Cyclone Debbie surged in what meteorologists said was a once-in-500 year event.

The effects of the former category 4 storm, one level shy of the most powerful category 5, were also still being felt in Australia more than a week after the cyclone pounded Australia’s Queensland state with the town of Rockhampton flooded. Scores of roads were closed or blocked by landslips across New Zealand’s North Island following two days of heavy rainfall caused by the tailwind of Cyclone Debbie.

The storm killed six people in Australia, smashed tourist resorts, brought down power lines and shut coal mines. No deaths have been reported in New Zealand, but authorities continued to search for a man reported missing in a swollen river. “There’s still a risk of loss of life,” New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett told reporters in Wellington as rescue workers raced to evacuate the town of Edgecumbe in the Bay of Plenty. “Under no circumstances should people be looking at going back at the moment,” she said.

“The message must be really clear to people right now: Get out and stay out.” New Zealand’s mountainous terrain makes its roads susceptible to landslides and many regions are still recovering from November’s 7.8-magnitude quake. Kaikoura, the coastal holiday town at the epicentre of that quake, was shut off from the rest of the country for the second time in six months as connecting roads were again hit by landslips. (RTRS)

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