heavy and persistent<\/a> in the area on Wednesday morning, and it was believed the person and their car were swept away by the river’s strength and high waters.<\/p>\nA passenger had been able to get out of the vehicle and raised the alarm, police have confirmed.<\/p>\n
At this stage the man and his vehicle are still missing.<\/p>\n
![\"Mahurangi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4JUGIFO_Media_jfif.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
\nThe Mahuranhi River on Wednesday.
\nPhoto: Lucy Xia \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n
McLean said about five whitewater rafts had been searching the section of the river from the ford at Mansel Drive to the area around the Mahurangi Hope Church.<\/p>\n
Drones had also been deployed and a section of Falls Road has been closed.<\/p>\n
A resident near to the scene said flood warning signs had been up in the area.<\/p>\n
Dawn Ferguson, who had lived in the area for nearly 50 years, said the crossing can be dangerous.<\/p>\n
“When people go to drive straight, but it’s got a curve in the bridge, in the ford, that’s what gets you into danger – because the wheels go off one side, then the flow of the water will just carry them away. “<\/p>\n
Ferguson said she was devastated to hear what happened.<\/p>\n
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown said he was alarmed to hear of the disappearance.<\/p>\n
“While police, Fire and Emergency and Auckland Emergency Management’s swift water response teams continue the search for the missing man, the incident highlights the importance of staying safe and being prepared. “<\/p>\n
Brown said people should listen to Auckland Emergency Management and follow their advice.<\/p>\n
The search<\/p>\n
McLean said about 20 people were involved in the search, including firefighters, police officers and whitewater rafters.<\/p>\n
Police senior sergeant Dean Roberts said they were staying positive during the search.<\/p>\n
“We’re always going to be hopeful in these situations, we’re not going to give up, especially for the family.<\/p>\n
“We’re in contact with the family and we are providing as much support as we can.”<\/p>\n
![\"Dawn](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4JUGE7M_Media_8_jfif.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
\nDawn Ferguson.
\nPhoto: Lucy Xia \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n
Roberts said finding the man was a priority.<\/p>\n
“There’s a road that goes over to Woodcock Road, that has since been flooded over with a stream that’s broke, fast flowing river, and we believe that’s where our start point is,” he said.<\/p>\n
“As it’s an ongoing investigation we won’t be able to go into complete details of how it all happened, but that’s where we’re starting from.”<\/p>\n
The passenger who escaped the vehicle was helping police with their investigation.<\/p>\n
“They’re okay, they’ve been checked by paramedics, and they’re with their family.”<\/p>\n
Members of the public are advised to avoid the area, and people should pay close attention to weather warnings in place.<\/p>\n
Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero, a daily newsletter<\/a> curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A section of Falls Road near the Mahurangi River is flooded over, it is in the area where…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-243572","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-podcasts","13":"tag-public-radio","14":"tag-radio-new-zealand","15":"tag-rnz","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4JUGGRU_Media_jfif.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n