New Zealand storms sees foreign tourists stranded

New Zealand has been hit by a weekend of severe storms, with landslides and flooding in the South Island cutting off towns and trapping an estimated 1,000 foreign tourists.

Most are stuck on the west coast in the towns of Fox Glacier and Franz Josef, according to the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management, with some forced to sleep in their cars.

New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had established contact with the tourists, who have been stranded by flooding and landslides that some fear may take months to clear.

Food and water deliveries were being arranged for those who were stuck, Westland Mayor Bruce Smith told the New Zealand Herald.

New Zealand’s Civil Defence Director Sarah Stuart-Black urged people to avoid the affected regions and to stay up-to-date because “the situation continues to change rapidly”, as the severe weather system moved north.

On Sunday, the Met Service said central and western areas in the North Island could expect severe thunderstorms, with downpours of 25mm to 40mm an hour, large hail and possible ‘“small tornadoes”.

In the South Island, several major highways were closed due to landslips and flooding, and in Timaru a state of emergency was declared after the Rangitata River burst its banks.

On Friday, low lying streets in the South Island tourist towns of Wanaka and Queenstown were steadily submerged, after Lake Wanaka and Lake Wakatipu burst their banks earlier in the week, flooding businesses and sewerage systems.

Water and large debris closed the main street of Wanaka while sewerage systems in the town were also at risk of contaminating the lake.

Image: Flooding along the Rangitata River (top, courtesy Facebook/Timaru District Council) and rising waters inundate Wanaka’s famous lakeside tree (below).