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Downpour breaks Auckland’s June record, New Zealand

downpour-breaks-auckland-s-june-record-new-zealand

At least 80 homes have been flooded after several rounds of heavy rainfall hit the New Zealand's city of Auckland on June 29, 2016.

Between 01:00 and 02:00 UTC (13:00 – 14:00 NZST), the country's NIWA agency recorded 25.4 mm (1 inch) of rain, making it the city's wettest hour ever recorded in June.

MetService duty forecaster Ciaran Doolin said the downpour had since eased. "The most significant set of falls we've seen in the last hour – between 25 mm in an hour to about 30 mm – so it's quite a significant amount of rain to fall in a short period, and is consistent with what we call downpour."

Several cars have been trapped in floodwater and dozens of homes flooded after torrential rain in Auckland, Radio New Zealand reports.

Fire Service spokesman Jaron Philips said 100 calls were received from Te Atatu Peninsular to Tuakau for flooding-related incidents. There were no reports of injuries or wind-related incidents. "It was fierce and fast moving. It was quite busy for us, but not at the worst end of the scale of what we have seen."

Civil Defence said the problems caused by heavy rain in Auckland are easing, and the flood waters are draining away.

All major roads are now open, Auckland Transport said. They are now checking whether any public transport services had been affected.

According to the NZ Herald, the most dramatic incident was in Pukekohe where three people had to be rescued from a car submerged on Subway Rd.

WeatherWatch forecaster Philip Duncan said the localized rain was a result of subtropic air feeding the usual winter rain clouds over Auckland.

"There was 100% humidity, the rain clouds were quite literally forming over Auckland as the slow moving band of rain was fed by the subtropics. The weather system was heading towards Hawke's Bay and the Bay of Plenty overnight, before traveling down the country."

Featured image: Auckland Airport flooded on June 29, 2016. Credit: Alistair Hayward (via Twitter)

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