Residents evacuated after floods

Emergency workers in New Zealand ordered the evacuation of about 100 people from the tourist city of Queenstown as a state of emergency was declared after flooding in the South Island caused by heavy rainfall, authorities announced on Friday, September 22.

A month’s worth of rain fell overnight in Queenstown, which recorded the heaviest 24-hour rainfall in more than two decades, meteorologists said.

Authorities said floods and debris swept through parts of central Queenstown, and residents were forced to flee their homes. Many schools were closed. A seven-day state of emergency was declared in Queenstown, as well as the Southland region of New Zealand’s South Island. Widespread flooding also destroyed roads in the area. No further losses were recorded.