New Zealand roiled by flash floods, landslides for third day - Reuters

Jan 29 (Reuters) - New Zealand's decease toll from dense rainfall roseate to 4 connected Sunday arsenic flash floods and landslides connected the northbound land continued for a 3rd day.

Battered since Friday, Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, remained nether a authorities of emergency. The nation's upwind forecaster, MetService, warned of much terrible upwind connected Sunday and Monday for the northbound island. Intense rainfall could besides origin aboveground and flash flooding, it said.

"We cognize that determination is imaginable for much adverse upwind tonight," Auckland Emergency Management controller Rachel Kelleher told reporters.

The exigency covers ample swaths of the northbound island, with Waitomo District astir 220 km (140 miles) from Auckland, declaring a authorities of exigency precocious connected Saturday.

A antheral missing aft being swept distant connected Friday successful Onewhero, a agrarian colony astir 70 km (40 miles) southbound of Auckland, was confirmed dead, constabulary said.

"The astir horrific portion of it is that we've mislaid lives," Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni said successful Auckland, a metropolis of 1.6 million.

Climate alteration is causing episodes of dense rainfall to go much communal and much aggravated successful New Zealand, though the interaction varies by region. Climate Change Minister James Shaw noted the nexus to clime alteration connected Saturday erstwhile helium tweeted his enactment for those affected by flooding.

Police said connected Sunday they were assisting with postulation absorption and roadworthy closures successful Waitomo District aft dense rainfall "caused galore slips, flooding and harm to roads".

In adjacent Bay of Plenty determination was besides "widespread flooding", constabulary said, arsenic good arsenic a landslide that had knocked down a location and was threatening neighbouring properties.

Thousands of properties remained without power, portion hundreds were without water, authorities said.

Still, Air New Zealand resumed planetary flights successful and retired of Auckland would resume astatine noon connected Sunday (2300 GMT connected Saturday), a spokesperson said.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, little than a week successful office, flew by chopper implicit Auckland connected Saturday and toured flood-hit homes. He described the flood interaction successful the metropolis arsenic "unprecedented" successful caller memory.

People made much than 2,000 calls for assistance and 70 evacuations astir Auckland - the nation's largest metropolis - owed to the inundation, the New Zealand Herald reported Saturday.

Reporting by Sam McKeith; Editing by Josie Kao, Edwina Gibbs and William Mallard

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