The rain is continuing in Northland, Auckland and Coromandel. Heavy rain has caused damage in parts of Coromandel as a house and trees have slipped down a hillside. Farms in South Auckland have been flooded, with many farm animals drowning in the water. The rain was so heavy today, drivers were told to stay home if possible. About 50mm of rain fell in 3 hours. Hundreds of homes in Auckland have lost their electricity.
Auckland is now facing a problem with drinking water. So much water has washed mud into the rivers that the water treatment station is finding it hard to clean enough water for the city. People have been asked to save as much water as possible in the meantime. If they don’t do this, probably people will have to boil their water for drinking.
Northland was suffering from drought during the summer but now they have a flood. A part of State Highway 1 south of Kerikeri is closed because of flood water.
The heavy rain has now spread to Bay of Plenty and even parts of North West Nelson in the South Island. It is, however, warm rain from the tropics with temperatures in most of the North Island around 26 to 28 degrees.
The forecast for most of New Zealand tomorrow is for rain over the weekend. This should be helpful for farmers on the east coast of the South Island which had very little rain during the summer.
Pronunciation
• flood – rhymes with blood or mud
• drought – rhymes with out
Grammar
Verb tenses
Present perfect shows a situation which started in the past and is still true now
• e.g. has caused damage, have slipped, have lost, has spread
• Present perfect passive: have been flooded (by rain), have been asked (by the council)
Simple past shows something that finished in the past.
e.g. fell, was, were told (past passive)