Residents of Napier’s Bay View claim they saw several bodies washed away.

Read important updates as text only for those with little cellphone reception.

Police have unintentionally discovered what appears to be a major drug setup while raiding a home in Adelaide's south.

Drug and serious crime police spent Wednesday dismantling what is believed to be a clandestine lab at a Morphettvale home.

The set-up was discovered by chance when officers arrived at the property for unrelated matters.

READ MORE: Rent bidding could become illegal in South Australia

A man was arrested on Tuesday afternoon before the lab was discovered.

Officers guarded the house overnight and started work this morning.

Forensics seized bags of white powder and tested them.

Police said a package was delivered to a woman who lives at the house at midday. The parcel was seized as part of the investigation.

No charges have yet been laid over the discovery.

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New Zealand's Lower North Island has been rocked by a strong earthquake.

The magnitude-6.1 quake struck at 7.38pm (local time 5:38 AEDT) on Wednesday and was centred 50km north-west of the town of Paraparaumu, which is about 10km north of the capital, Wellington, at a depth of 48km.

More than 60,600 people reported feeling the quake on Geonet in the following half-hour.

READ MORE: Rebels threaten to kill Kiwi pilot in chilling videos

The majority of those people reported the quake as feeling "light", while 72 reported it as extreme.

It was felt from the top of the North Island to the bottom of the South Island.

People in central Christchurch felt the slow roll, which lasted about a minute.

The last strong earthquake, also measuring 6, was 5km south of Te Aroha, a town in the north of the North Island, on February 3.

The earthquake is the second natural disaster to hit New Zealand in a matter of days, after Cyclone Gabrielle caused the worst damage in a generation, according to Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, and killed four people.

More to come…

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The unemployment rate is three times higher than official statistics and on the rise, according to data released by pollster Roy Morgan.

According to the polling company's latest data, 10.7 per cent of Australians are unemployed.

The official number from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is 3.5 per cent.

READ MORE: 'That's our job and it's unpopular': RBA boss defends rate hikes

And while the ABS said the unemployment rate was flat last month, Roy Morgan's survey showed a substantial rise of 223,000 people in January.

That figure would place the unemployment rate at its highest level since March 2021.

Another 9.5 per cent of Australians were underemployed, according to Roy Morgan, also substantially higher than ABS estimates.

The rise in both unemployment and underemployment is attributed partly to the end of the Christmas retailing season.

The substantial discrepancy in numbers comes down to how both data-gathering agencies define unemployment.

Roy Morgan counts an unemployed person as anyone over 14 who is looking for work, no matter when.

READ MORE: Australia should be worried about 'internal' triggers for a recession

The ABS classifies somebody as employed if they have worked for at least an hour in a week, even if it means working without pay in a family business or farm.

Roy Morgan interviews around 4000 people each month to collate their estimates of the unemployment rate.

In more bad news for the economy, ANZ-Roy Morgan's Consumer Confidence Index showed the largest weekly drop following an RBA meeting since early June last year.

The consumer confidence drop came after the Reserve Bank lifted rates another 0.25 basis points, putting it at its highest rate since 2012.

Less than 20 per cent of Australians say their families are better off financially than this time last year.

Close to half say they are worse off.

Despite this, business confidence has had the biggest January jump since 2010, according to Roy Morgan.

READ MORE: All four big banks pass on latest interest rate hike

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Energy Minister Megan Woods describes fuel as a ‘lifeline service’.

By 8.30pm almost 70,000 Kiwis had reported feeling the quake.

Stay put and hope the weather gods are kind, or risk raging floods to assure safety.

Even a week out, forecasters knew they had a monster on their hands. Jamie Morton explains

A rescue operation is underway with two miners unaccounted for after a mining accident in outback Queensland.

The two workers were reported missing after a 30-tonne drill rig fell 25 metres down into a pit at the Dugald River mine near Cloncurry, about an hour outside of Mount Isa.

9News understands the drill rig was being manned by a worker who also fell into the pit and was injured.

READ MORE: Severe weather system to hit almost every state

While the worker was at the bottom of the pit, colleagues noticed a white ute that was only barely visible buried underneath rock and debris.

It is the two workers who are connected to that ute who are believed to be missing.

Repeated attempts to contact the workers via radio have so far failed.

A major operation is underway to clear the rock and soil, however the process could take hours.

Emergency services have arrived on scene, including paramedics.

Queensland Ambulance described the incident as a "ground collapse".

The owner of the mine, MMG, said two Barminco employees working at the site were "involved in an incident and currently remain unaccounted for".

"The site's emergency response has been activated and is working closely with Barminco and authorities to assist in search and rescue efforts," the company said in a statement.

"Operations at Dugald River have been halted while the search is underway.

"MMG has extended all available resources and support to Barminco and the Dugald River mine."

Barminco, which employs the workers, is an underground mining company.

The Dugald River mine predominantly produces zinc concentrate, with byproducts including lead and silver.

The operation employs around 500 employees and contractors on a mix of fly-in, fly-out and local residential basis.