{"id":283828,"date":"2026-02-14T12:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T12:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/283828\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T12:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T12:34:13","slug":"weather-man-found-dead-inside-car-submerged-in-floodwaters-on-state-highway-39-otorohanga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/283828\/","title":{"rendered":"Weather: Man found dead inside car submerged in floodwaters on State Highway 39, \u014ctorohanga"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cOne fire truck attended, supported by volunteers from the Hamilton brigade and a crew of eight from the swift water rescue department.<\/p>\n

\u201cCrew left the scene around 2am, with volunteers remaining to help assist police.\u201d<\/p>\n

State Highway 39 remains closed. Police have urged people to avoid the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone travelling in the Waikato district is urged to take care and should not attempt to cross flooded roads.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u014ctorohanga Mayor Rodney Dow spoke to media this morning and said it was \u201cwith the deepest sadness\u201d he acknowledged the \u201ctragic loss of life\u201d within the district last night.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe damage [to the district] can be repaired. But this poor person that\u2019s lost their life, you know, there\u2019s going to be a family there bawling their eyes out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dow said police had notified the man\u2019s next of kin and support was being given to his wh\u0101nau.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is devastating news for our community. Right now, our focus is on supporting those affected by the widespread flooding, as well as emergency workers and support agencies who are also helping. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo the wh\u0101nau, we extend our aroha, love and heartfelt condolences during this incredibly difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The intersection of Kiwi Rd and State Highway 39 is north of Puketotara and less than 1km from where a motorist crashed their ute into a washed-out bridge<\/a> just south of Mangati Rd. <\/p>\n

That motorist escaped injury, a resident told the Herald.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cOne fire truck attended, supported by volunteers from the Hamilton brigade and a crew of eight from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283829,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[158361,74,6743,3944,690,6179,7557,145084,1874,26755,78,2944,5158,111,43,139,69,90,6507,13672,132503,86465,14344,4998,6123],"class_list":{"0":"post-283828","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-158361","9":"tag-after","10":"tag-became","11":"tag-car","12":"tag-dead","13":"tag-died","14":"tag-district","15":"tag-floodwaters","16":"tag-found","17":"tag-highway","18":"tag-in","19":"tag-inside","20":"tag-man","21":"tag-new-zealand","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-newzealand","24":"tag-nz","25":"tag-on","26":"tag-overnight","27":"tag-state","28":"tag-submerged","29":"tag-torohanga","30":"tag-travelling","31":"tag-weather","32":"tag-while"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283828","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=283828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}