New Zealand’s largest city declared a state of emergency after heavy rain inundated large areas and forced the closure of Auckland International Airport, where one aircraft had hit and damaged runway lights while landing.
More than 2,000 people sheltered overnight at the Auckland airport’s terminal buildings after dozens of flights were diverted or canceled. The rain triggered landslides, including in at least one residential area, and stranded motorists on a flooded freeway near the city. New Zealand’s national weather service said a record 9.8 inches of rain fell on the airport in 24 hours and forecast more to come.
Three people died due to the weather, Prime Minister
Chris Hipkins
said on Saturday. New Zealand Police said one man was found dead in a flooded culvert, and another in a flooded car park.
“The event was beyond anything we’ve ever seen. We were airlifting people off roofs with helicopters, we were retrieving people who were in their vehicles potentially getting submerged,” said Andrew Clark, a controller with the local government’s emergency management unit.
Auckland’s airport, the landing point for millions of visitors to the country each year and a key transit route to the U.S., was closed to all flights on Friday evening. Domestic services restarted at about midday Saturday, but international flights were canceled until Sunday. Airport operations were already disrupted after an Air New Zealand flight from Melbourne, Australia, knocked out runway lights on Friday. No one was hurt, and the country’s air-safety authority was alerted,
Air New Zealand Ltd.
said.
Auckland’s mayor,
Wayne Brown,
declared a state of emergency on Friday evening, giving first responders powers including the authority to evacuate residents across a city of some 1.5 million people. Centers were opened across the city to house displaced residents. New Zealand’s government said the country’s armed forces were in the city to support emergency workers.
“Having just surveyed some of the extensive damage both on the ground and in the air, it’s clear that it’s going to be a big clean-up job. The level of devastation in some areas is considerable,” said Mr. Hipkins, who became Prime Minister this week following Jacinda Ardern’s resignation.
The deluge led to a cancellation of Elton John’s concert in the city Friday shortly before the artist was due on stage. The second show on Saturday was also called off.
Air New Zealand, the national flag carrier, diverted 12 international flights because of the deluge, including a direct flight from New York to Auckland that departed Thursday and landed in Hawaii. The airline warned it would take several days for flight schedules to return to normal and told passengers to brace for delays when international services resume Sunday.
“We usually operate around 13 baggage belts, but with the damage we could be down to as few as three,” said
David Morgan,
the carrier’s safety officer.
Other airlines were affected. Arrival boards at Sydney’s airport showed that several
Qantas Airways Ltd.
flights from Auckland had been canceled. Fiji Airways canceled five flights, the carrier said.
said it canceled Thursday’s and Friday’s daily service from Dallas.
said it canceled Thursday’s service from San Francisco, as well as Saturday’s return flight.
Auckland International Airport Ltd. is listed on the country’s main stock exchange. It operates Auckland Airport, which is the most common landing point for visitors to New Zealand. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, it handled more than 20 million passengers each year.
Airport workers were assessing and rectifying damage inside terminals and ensuring that systems are safe. Videos posted to social media by travelers showed water inside the airport buildings.
“The airport has never been tested in this way. Flooding overnight has significantly impacted a number of critical components of our airport terminal infrastructure,” said
Carrie Hurihanganui,
the Auckland airport’s chief executive.
Write to Stuart Condie at stuart.condie@wsj.com
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