Torrential rains and storms have caused floods and landslides in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city.

The authorities declared it Oakland in an emergency while a High School student is ignored.

The student was swept into a cave north of Auckland in the North Island today.

The teenager had gone on a trip to Abbey Caves, near Whangarei, with 14 other schoolmates and two adults. The remaining 16 have been found, according to police official Tony Hill.

Abbey Caves is located about five kilometers from the city of Whangarei and includes three caves that are “prone to flash flooding”, according to the council’s website.

Police rescue teams suspended their operations at 17:00 local time (08:00 Greek time) today after a full-day search in the area, which faced heavy rain throughout the day. Searches will resume after dawn in the cordoned off area.

Torrential rains are wreaking havoc across this region, where some major arterial roads have been closed.

State of emergency in Auckland

More generally in Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand, the schools in the affected areas were evacuated and closed. They have roads and parks floodwhile a state of emergency was declared at the local level and two shelters were opened by civil protection services.

Flooding caused by heavy rains has disrupted transport and suspended train services, with authorities asking people to avoid non-essential travel movements due to the fear of causing landslides.

Heavy rain and thunderstorms are expected to continue into the evening, possibly into midnight local time, before the weather event moves southeast.

Auckland experienced severe flooding in January which killed 4 people, then in February Cyclone Gabriel caused widespread damage across much of the North Island and killed at least 11 people.
The Ministry of Finance estimates the cost of these weather phenomena to be between 9 and 14.5 billion New Zealand dollars (5.19 – 8.37 billion euros).