'Stay out of the water' Auckland message as city faces flooding clean up with a 'long tail'

Sunday, 5 February 2023

Cliffs have been gouged in the north, centre and west of Auckland, Yvonne Tahana reports.

Nine days on from the devastating flooding that struck Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland is facing a clean-up that could take “many months, if not years”.

During their daily briefing, Auckland Emergency Management asked Aucklanders to, “please stay out of the water this weekend”.

Auckland Emergency Management deputy controller Rachel Kelleher said that this included coastal areas not covered by Safeswim warnings.

Kelleher emphasised that this warning remained in place “for your health and safety”.

* Aucklanders asked to 'avoid unnecessary travel' over Waitangi Weekend

* 'I dropped the ball': Auckland Mayor apologises as he extends state of emergency

Auckland is now nine days into a state of emergency.

She added that there will be a “long tail to this event”, with recovery programmes in place for “many months, if not years”.

Although all weather watches and warnings have now been removed for the Auckland region, Kelleher warned that everyone must “remain vigilant” as land conditions stabilise.

With no serious or significant weather events expected in the coming days, it’s a good time to get air flow through affected houses, she said.

In the coming week, Auckland Emergency Management’s priority will be “connecting face to face” with those affected by the torrential rain that hit the city at the end of January.

In the meantime, Kelleher urged Aucklanders to check on their neighbours and loved ones.

To date, 4500 rapid building assessments have taken place, with 261 red stickers issued and a further 1478 yellow stickers in place.

Red stickers indicate a property cannot be entered at all, and yellow means access is restricted.

620 tonnes of waste have been disposed of across 15 transfer stations around Auckland.

The storm broke all previous rainfall records, caused widespread damage and saw four deaths across the Auckland region.

It marked the wettest day on record, with “extreme” rainfall causing severe flooding across the supercity.

A state of emergency was declared at 9.27pm on Friday January 27 – hours after widespread flooding had already caused chaos in the city.

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown then signed an extension of the declaration of the local state of emergency at 11.30am on Friday February 3, which means the state of emergency will now run until Friday February 10.

Brown has since said he 'dropped the ball' during Auckland's flooding the previous Friday.

At least one person had died before Brown signed the state of emergency declaration at 9.27pm, which wasn’t communicated to the public till 10.18pm.

“I dropped the ball on Friday, I was too slow to be seen. The communications weren’t fast enough, including mine. I am sorry.

“The priority now, ahead of the Waitangi long weekend, is to ensure that Aucklanders are safe, well-informed and well-supported.”

Auckland Emergency Management’s support line can be reached on 0800 222 200, and is open 24 hours every day of the week.