Rain or Shine...

A GIRL sucked into a drain during flash flooding on New Zealand's North Island died in hospital yesterday. Narelle Nimmo, 13, had been critically ill since she was washed into an open culvert on a farm in Kaiwaka, north of Auckland, as the area was hammered by torrential rains. A 78-year-old man also died in the floods.

About 30 houses were destroyed in the Northland region which was hardest hit by the flood.