Napier Mayor will assess area after State of Emergency declared

A local state of emergency has been declared in Napier, after a record-breaking amount of rain dumped itself over the city in one day. The 237-millimetres of rainfall caused widespread surface flooding, some severe slips, and power outages. It was over four times more rain in a single day, than the average amount of rainfall the city has over the entire month of November. Dozens of homes were evacuated, some due to flooding, others due to the risk of slips. Meanwhile, Fire and Emergency have been working throughout the night, responding to the hundreds of calls for helps from Napier residents. The city's mayor, Kirsten Wise, told our reporter Harry Lock, declaring a local state of emergency was the right thing to do.