Member-only story
Torrential Rain Drowns Auckland
Is it climate change, or is it just mum nature having a hissy fit?
I’ve been glued to the news this weekend since word broke that Auckland, New Zealand, was swamped with rain. I know the city very well as I lived there for eight years before moving to Montréal.
The speed and gravity of the situation were scary. The expansive metropolitan area received around 30 cm or 11 inches in just a few hours. [the news feeds range from 2 -15 hours, hence my vagueness.]
Regardless of the time frame, the volume is four times their usual amount of rain for January!
Seeing the videos and photographs of inundated highways and streets, abandoned cars and people wading through waist-deep water were horrifying. The airport was swimming, and some passengers were stranded on the first floor of the international terminal.
Houses are seen teetering off cliff edges as the ground eroded away underneath them. A lovely old Villa in Remuera slid off its foundations, killing one person. Another two were swept away elsewhere in the region.
