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Flooding After Torrential Rain on New Zealand's West Coast

A dozen residents were evacuated amid flooding in Hokitika, New Zealand, on January 11, as the remote West Coast town was lashed with more than 92 millimeters of rain in six hours, according to MetService.

“Serious flooding in Sewell and Sale Street, Hokitika, at the moment,” the Westland District Council wrote in a Facebook update. “Our contractors have every available person working on this at present. We’re looking at additional pumping at the pump station to also help with this. Please take care if driving.”

Tony Kokshoorn, mayor of the adjacent Grey District, told RNZ that the region had been under a severe drought.

“But it has broken with a vengeance at the moment,” Kokshoorn said. “We had 150 millimeters overnight and this morning, and it’s eased at the moment, but they are predicting another 100 millimeters this afternoon. So we’ve had some major flooding around the Grey District here, especially in Greymouth town itself.” Credit: Facebook/The Coasters Club via Storyful