Torrential rains lash New Zealand for 3rd day, hundreds evacuate homes

FILE PHOTO: Flood waters run through city of Nelson, New Zealand August 17, 2022 in this still image obtained from a video. Peter Gibbs/via REUTERS

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Torrential rain slammed the west and north of New Zealand's South Island for a third straight day on Thursday, forcing hundreds to evacuate their homes and triggering road and school closures and land slips.

Coming top of weeks of damp weather, the latest rainstorms are worsening conditions in New Zealand's already sodden landscape. Experts have attributed the unseasonably wet weather to a narrow stream of water vapour, or an 'atmospheric river', sitting above the country.