Flood-affected Aucklanders beg council to clean streams

Author: NZ Herald,
Publish Date: Thu, 4 May 2023, 4:19PM

A community group for flood-affected Aucklanders has taken its requests and concerns to the council.

West Auckland Is Flooding (WAIF) chairman Lyall Carter said hundreds of properties were red- or yellow-stickered after the Anniversary Weekend floods, and remain vulnerable to future weather events.

“In the Swanson and Opanuku stream catchments, we estimate 263 homes were flooded with significant amounts of water, sometimes as much as a metre,” Carter told Auckland Council at Thursday’s meeting.

WAIF has advocated for financial aid and voluntary buyouts to support a managed retreat for the most severely impacted West Aucklanders.

“Our main request is for the council to work closely with the Government, banks and insurance companies, and to ensure that there is a systematic programme of public support for flood-affected communities,” Carter said.

“Each individual property should be assessed for the risk and severity of future flooding, financial support should be given to homeowners to support them to make practical changes to reduce that risk. Where no practical intervention can reduce flood risk, we believe voluntary buyouts should be offered.”

Damage from the severe thunderstorm at Henderson Park, west Auckland. Photo / Miriam Brooker

Carter said the floods’ impacts weren’t just financial, but psychological.

“The trauma of the flood itself, many seeing loved ones in extreme danger from the waters, and then the uncertainty of waiting for government and council response, continues to take a terrible toll on the mental and physical health of our people.

“Every time that the rain clouds roll in across the Waitakere Ranges, as they have done this morning, the anxiety begins to build in the hearts and minds of many a flood-affected Westie.”

He said time was running out to address the issue and keep the community safe.

“This needs to happen urgently, not only because of the severe financial and psychological pressure our people are under, but because three months have passed since the Anniversary Weekend floods and none of the risk factors have been dealt with.

“We cannot wait any longer, the game has forever changed. Climate science and our own lived experience tells us that such weather events will continue to be more brutal and more frequent.”

Neglected streams had been a major contributor to the floods.

“We need streams - which aren’t just a natural part of our environment anymore but act as urban stormwater in many instances - to be cleared and cleaned with an ongoing maintenance schedule,” Carter said.

“Extreme blockages in the Waimoko Stream still exist to this day on private land - we believe this contributed to the extreme flooding at Candia Rd.”

Flooding on Candia Rd, Swanson. Photo / RNZ / Felicity Reid

Mayor warns extra prevention will cost West Aucklanders

The impassioned speech was applauded by councillors.

“We’re talking about 200-plus people who have lost everything gathering the energy to come and actually advocate, and that’s really hard,” said Waitākere councillor Shane Henderson.

“For West Aucklanders this stuff is traumatic, it’s hard to actually talk about.”

But Mayor Wayne Brown said if West Aucklanders wanted the council to clean its streams, they should be prepared to pay for it.

“Would your communities be opposed to a targeted rate to deal with this? A targeted rate to fund the expensive clearing and remanaging of the streams. Because you can’t just ... I know everyone wants to blame the council,” he said.

“People who live in areas that don’t flood aren’t feeling quite so worried about this as you are. If I was in your [shoes] I would be quite happy to pay a targeted rate, if it went towards clearing all the streams properly.”

WAIF spokesman Morgan Allen said the group would consider the offer, but it presented its own challenges.

“What would need to be acknowledged in our community is that a lot of the people who are affected ... we’re talking about people who are on lower incomes who are really feeling a cost-of-living pressure at the moment.”

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown. Photo / Dean Purcell

Brown said targeted rates had worked in Northland.

“Ring up somebody in Kaeo and Kaitāia, there’s plenty of people up there who are short of money, and it’s worked out quite well for them.”

Carter said it was vital that the council get more involved in the community.

“The overwhelming sense from our community is that there’s radio silence from the council, even in our committee. When we met on Monday, ‘What’s the council doing?’ That was the question that came around our table.”

He urged councillors to remember they were dealing with people, not properties.

“It’s not an investment property, it’s our home. Every time it rains we’re out checking the streams. Half our street is gone, and they weren’t just people that lived in those homes, they’re our neighbours, they’re our mates, they’re our friends,” he said.

“It’s not bricks and mortar, it’s people.”