WELLINGTON, March 28 (Xinhua) -- A state of emergency entered a third day on Thursday after severe weather took its toll and killed one woman in West Coast, New Zealand.
As the storm has moved towards North lsland, local authority hoped the state of emergency could be lifted by the end of Thursday, but nothing was guaranteed.
New Zealand police confirmed that an elderly woman's body was recovered near the flood waters in Arahura Valley, north of Hokitika Wednesday morning.
An initial scene investigation by the police appears that the woman got off the vehicle she was driving and tried to cross the flood waters on foot. She was then swept away in the strong-flowing current of surface flooding on Arahura Valley Road.
A state of emergency was declared for the Westland district on Tuesday evening after a day of torrential rain that destroyed the bridge across the Waiho River near Franz Josef on State Highway 6. The state of emergency remained in place on Wednesday.
This week witnessed a record volume of deluge in West Coast, said the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.
It was unusual to see a big northwesterly storm in March for the West Coast region.
