Aerial footage shows severe flooding in the New Zealand town of Edgecumbe in the North Island on Thursday, after the tail-end of ex-cyclone Debbie brought two days of heavy rain and burst river banks. Thousands of people have been evacuated and states of emergency have been declared in numerous regions of the North Island
• New Zealand towns hit by ‘once in 500-year flood’ as storm system sweeps in </s> INTERNATIONAL NEWS - The entire town of Edgecumbe on New Zealand's North Island has been evacuated, after severe flooding.

About 600 homes and 2,000 people are affected, as tractors and boats helped take locals to safety.

The rain, caused by the remnants of Cyclone Debbie, which hit Australia a week ago, has caused a river to burst its banks.

The mayor has described the extreme weather as a once-in-500-years event.

In Edgecumbe the water is said to be as high as 2m (6.5ft) in some areas. Police have erected barriers to prevent residents from returning.

Heavy rains also flooded roads in Wellington, the capital, and went on to soak New Zealand's South Island. </s> The entire town of Edgecumbe on New Zealand's North Island has been evacuated, after severe flooding.

About 600 homes and 2,000 people are affected, as tractors and boats helped take locals to safety.

The rain, caused by the remnants of Cyclone Debbie, which hit Australia a week ago, has caused a river to burst its banks.

The mayor has described the extreme weather as a once-in-500-years event.

Heavy rains also flooded roads in Wellington, the capital, and went on to soak New Zealand's South Island.

In Edgecumbe the water is said to be as high as 2m (6.5ft) in some areas. Police have erected barriers to prevent residents from returning.

Police are searching for one man believed missing in floodwaters near the swollen Waikato river.

They have denied social media reports of looting but say they will patrol the area anyway, after locals raised concerns.

While the evacuation of Edgecumbe is largely complete, the emergency services are still evacuating dozens of residents from the nearby Whakatane suburb.

Saving Edgecumbe on the back of a truck

Parts of the Bay of Plenty area received up to 250mm of rain in the last 36 hours, the New Zealand Herald reported.

"We had to evacuate, (the) house is totally flooded now. We're not sure how bad it's going to get," one resident told Reuters news agency.

Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett told reporters that the authorities' message to affected residents was: "Get out and stay out."

Kaikoura, the town cut off from the outside world by an earthquake in November, was once again isolated as landslides blocked roads.

Rainfall has eased across most of New Zealand's North Island. But former Cyclone Debbie is still having an impact in Australia, where severe flooding hit the town of Rockhampton, inundating hundreds of homes.

The category four cyclone has left at least six people dead.

Are you in the area affected by the flooding? Have you been hit by the extreme weather in New Zealand or Australia? Let us know. Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your stories.

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·Send an SMS or MMS to +44 7624 800 100 </s> Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Two rivers burst their banks as the tail end of ex-Cyclone Debbie saw water levels surge

The entire town of Edgecumbe on New Zealand's North Island has been evacuated, after severe flooding.

About 600 homes and 2,000 people are affected, as tractors and boats helped take locals to safety.

The rain, caused by the remnants of Cyclone Debbie, which hit Australia a week ago, has caused a river to burst its banks.

The mayor has described the extreme weather as a once-in-500-years event.

Heavy rains also flooded roads in Wellington, the capital, and went on to soak New Zealand's South Island.

In Edgecumbe the water is said to be as high as 2m (6.5ft) in some areas. Police have erected barriers to prevent residents from returning.

Police are searching for one man believed missing in floodwaters near the swollen Waikato river.

They have denied social media reports of looting but say they will patrol the area anyway, after locals raised concerns.

While the evacuation of Edgecumbe is largely complete, the emergency services are still evacuating dozens of residents from the nearby Whakatane suburb.

Saving Edgecumbe on the back of a truck

Image copyright @NZDefenceForce Image caption The military have been involved in evacuating people

Image copyright @NZDefenceForce Image caption Residents have been warned not to return to their homes until the waters have subsided

Parts of the Bay of Plenty area received up to 250mm of rain in the last 36 hours, the New Zealand Herald reported.

"We had to evacuate, (the) house is totally flooded now. We're not sure how bad it's going to get," one resident told Reuters news agency.

Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett told reporters that the authorities' message to affected residents was: "Get out and stay out."

Image copyright Reuters Image caption A month's worth of rain fell in less than a day, on some areas of the North Island

Kaikoura, the town cut off from the outside world by an earthquake in November, was once again isolated as landslides blocked roads.

Rainfall has eased across most of New Zealand's North Island. But former Cyclone Debbie is still having an impact in Australia, where severe flooding hit the town of Rockhampton, inundating hundreds of homes.

The category four cyclone has left at least six people dead. </s> People used jet boats and tractors to help rescue about 2,000 residents of a New Zealand town after a river burst through a concrete levee on Thursday, flooding hundreds of homes and businesses.

Local authorities declared a state of emergency after the levee failed in the town of Edgecumbe on the North Island.

New Zealand has been drenched in recent days by the remnants of Cyclone Debbie, which flooded parts of Australia's east coast last week. </s> Thousands of people at the top of New Zealand's North Island were told to evacuate on Thursday while an Australian town is forecast to be underwater later in the day as the tail end of Cyclone Debbie continues to cause major flooding.

The effects of the Category 4 storm, one level shy of the most powerful Category 5, are still being felt in both countries more than a week after it pounded Australia's Queensland state, killing six people, smashing tourist resorts, bringing down power lines and shutting down coal mines.

Scores of roads were closed or blocked by landslips across New Zealand's North Island following two days of heavy rainfall, although some areas had been given a reprieve from expected flash flooding. The international airport in the capital of Wellington was reopened on Thursday morning after the severe weather brought down air traffic systems late on Wednesday. </s> A landslide caused by rains from Cyclone Debbie is shoveled off the main road between Napier and Taupo on New Zealand's North Island, April 5, 2017. SNPA/Sarah Lord/via New Zealand Defence Force personnel load sandbags as they prepare for floodwaters in the wake of Cyclone Debbie in Whanganui, New Zealand, April 5, 2017.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Reuters. </s> Hot on the heels of ex-cyclone Debbie is the newly formed Cyclone Cook, and it could bring more flooding to New Zealand. Cyclone Cook is today tracking from southern parts of Vanuatu and towards New Caledonia, bringing damaging winds and torrential rain.

Start the conversation, or Read more at The Otago Daily Times. </s> Rescue workers have used tractors and boats to evacuate thousands of people at the top of New Zealand's North Island on Thursday as flood waters from ex-Cyclone Debbie surged in what meteorologists said was a once-in-500 year event.

The effects of the former category 4 storm, one level shy of the most powerful category 5, were also still being felt in Australia more than a week after the cyclone pounded Queensland with the town of Rockhampton flooded.

Scores of roads were closed or blocked by landslips across New Zealand's North Island following two days of heavy rainfall caused by the tailwind of Cyclone Debbie.

The storm killed six people in Australia, smashed tourist resorts, brought down power lines and shut coal mines.

No deaths have been reported in New Zealand, but authorities continued to search for a man reported missing in a swollen river.

'There's still a risk of loss of life,' New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett told reporters in Wellington as rescue workers raced to evacuate the town of Edgecumbe in the Bay of Plenty.

'Under no circumstances should people be looking at going back at the moment,' she said.

'The message must be really clear to people right now: Get out and stay out.'

New Zealand's mountainous terrain makes its roads susceptible to landslides and many regions are still recovering from November's 7.8-magnitude quake.

Kaikoura, the coastal holiday town at the epicenter of that quake, was shut off from the rest of the country for the second time in six months as connecting roads were again hit by landslips.

In Australia, where the deluge was still flowing through tropical river systems, water levels peaked in the city of Rockhampton at lunchtime on Thursday, flooding main streets, shops and homes.

Residents rowed boats along main roads and muddy water covered the airport's runway. Authorities said the airport will be closed for six days and the water is not expected to recede until the weekend.

The Australian disaster zone stretched 1,000 km (600 miles) from Queensland's tropical resort islands and Gold Coast tourist strip to the farmlands of New South Wales state.

Australian insurers have declared the event a catastrophe likely to cost more than one billion dollars, with state officials saying recovery and repairs will take months.

'The flooding has been worse than we anticipated,' Peter Harmer, the chief executive of Australia's largest insurer IAG said at a business conference in Sydney on Thursday.

'The cyclone impact itself was less than anticipated.'

Harmer said IAG was using drones to compile early assessments of the damage which he expected to total 'in excess of A$1 billion.'
Severe flooding caused by Cyclone Debbie forces the evacuation of Edgecumbe, New Zealand, and nearby areas.