Auckland Emergency Management warn of scams and ask residents to 'check on those you haven't seen in awhile'

Saturday, 4 February 2023

Tia Toarea-Katia has lost everything in flood, and is now living with 15 others in a three-bedroom home.

Auckland Emergency Management is urging people to check on their neighbours, and to watch for potential scammers in the wake of flooding last weekend.

In a press conference on Saturday, emergency controller Rachel Kelleher updated the public on the latest with the flood response, and gave a plea as well – everyone is anxious, so take care with each other.

There are also a number of red and yellow stickered homes on either side of that property, she added.

Kelleher said while there is lots of goodwill and generosity in the community, the team has had reports of scams.

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Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Maungakiekie MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan helped residents of a flooded house in Mt Roskill with the student volunteer army this week.

“There is a lot of goodwill and generosity in the community but there have been reports of scams and people posing as officials,” she said.

“Please check identification. They should be able to identify with the organisation they are purporting to represent.”

She said she doesn't have specific details, but that: “We’ve just had concerns about people possibly scoping out properties wearing some level of official attire that may not be legitimate.

“So if you are dealing with people over insurance, or assessing properties for damage, just make sure they have identified.”

Drone video shows the damage and cliff erosion around Colwill Rd, Massey, after Auckland's worst rainfall on record.

As of Saturday morning, there were 253 red stickered homes and 1351 yellow stickered homes.

“The priorities at the moment is revisiting those [red stickered properties] and looking [at] whether they can be changed to yellow given the stability in weather conditions,” Kelleher said.

She said she expects inspectors to have finished the bulk of the work, and the majority of affected homes will be assessed by Sunday evening.

But as people who were away return home, or new issues emerge, some new houses may be added to the list.

“There will still be a tail on this.”

There were 80 inspectors out making building assessments on Saturday. Those who haven’t had their home assessed can call 0800 22 22 00 and arrange an inspection.

Kelleher said the heavily damaged home at 33 Shore Rd, Remuera – belonging to Dave Lennard, who died during the disaster – was demolished Saturday morning, and work will begin to stabilise the land bank behind the property.

Emergency accomodation centres popped up all over Auckland in response to the floods.

“This has been a difficult time for the family involved and our thoughts are with them,” Kelleher said.

“We will be putting in containers to stabilise the bank and that will enable access back to the road either tomorrow or earlier if possible.”

There are still 27 roads fully or partially closed, including Shore Rd, and full details are online at the Auckland Transport website.

For those travelling north, State Highway 1 north of the Brynderwyn Hills is open for one way traffic, and will reopen for southbound travellers only on Monday.

Ground is still movable at the moment, so anyone who sees the ground change or look different over a day, can report it to the emergency management team in case of future slips.

Overnight on Saturday, just 12 people were in the emergency accommodation provided by Council.

“We’ve made really good progress being able to find alternative accommodation for people who were displaced from flooding events on Friday and Tuesday nights.”

There are still families arriving to Civil Defence Centres for the first time, Kelleher said, so work is ongoing to support them as they figure out their home situations.

So far, over 300 people have applied for help from Auckland Council’s flood relief fund, which is made up of $1.3 million from government individuals and businesses, including ANZ bank.

In the coming week the emergency management staff will be on the ground in affected areas continuing to talk to communities about what help they still need, she said.

“We work as quickly as we can to reports we receive of people needing assistance,” she said, in response to questions about whether there could still be people stuck or stranded due to the floods.

“If you haven’t seen someone for a while check in on them. These are things we can do together as a community.”

She urged people to be considerate and patient with each other, as it’s been a time of heightened anxiety for everyone.

Even though beaches aren’t safe to swim at, and the sun hasn't quite returned, it’s important to take some kind of break, she said.

“I think it’s reasonable to expect that people will be feeling heightened levels of anxiety. This has touched people in many different ways.

“It’s caused loss of life, it's caused people to lose their belongings and homes, and for many others it will be an additional uncertainty in a period of time when we’ve been working through a range of challenges.”

She said it’s important to be mindful that when dealing with service providers and whānau. Staff are working hard to resolve issues, even as they have been affected by the floods themselves.

In the weeks to come, Emergency Management will consider whether red zones of the kind instituted in Christchurch after the earthquake will be needed for “high-risk” areas.

Residents of Titirangi, Konini, Oratia and parts of Glen Eden are being asked to reduce their water usage “as much as possible” over the coming week as water networks remain vulnerable in the wake of last Friday’s storm.

There are no other major water supply, waste water or power supply issues at this time that are not already being responded to, Kelleher said on Saturday.