02 Feb 2023
Civil Defence gives weather and flooding update. Video / NZHerald
More than 200 lifts are not working across Auckland city and people, including elderly residents, are stuck and isolated at the top of apartment buildings, says Mayor Wayne Brown.
Emergency Management did not realise it was an issue and the incident started to be addressed yesterday, he claimed. “I’ve known about it for a while,” Brown told AM this morning. “Yesterday I brought it to their attention and it’s to their attention now. I knew one day before but I didn’t know how widespread it was. Right at the moment there are people really in trouble and that’s what we’re focused on.”
Brown said those in emergency care were people whose houses had been washed out, or affected by slips. Communities were looking after those who were stuck due to lifts not operating.
Asked why he had agreed to do a media interview this morning, Brown said: “It’s the first time there’s been a break in the weather to do this.”
At an emergency briefing this morning, officials said that if people were stuck in high-rise buildings, they were encouraged to reach out for help.
During the briefing Auckland Emergency Management also announced that more than 30 roads in the Auckland region remain closed today due to damage. And it says all beaches in the region are unsafe for swimming due to contaminated floodwaters.
Tāmaki Drive is one of the many roads still affected by slips and motorists are being told to “travel with care”. More than 550 staff are on the ground dealing with road maintenance, working to clear and open roads.
Crews were still aware of potential risks associated with flooding over the last few days, Fire and Emergency NZ regional boss Ron Devlin said.
Director of Emergency Management for the National Civil Defence Roger Ball urged people to keep an eye on weather updates. Emergency officials were continuing to work with government agencies helping people affected by floods over the last few days.
As of last night, there are 99 people in evacuation sites around Auckland. However, many families or people affected were organising their own accommodation, authorities said.
Close to 200 buildings or properties had been issued a red placard and close to 800 properties were issued with yellow stickers.
People cleaning out their homes affected by floodwaters are being reminded to wash their hands regularly and to treat all items they handle as contaminated. Produce or items that have come into contact with floodwaters should be thrown out.
There still remains a high number of landslips across Auckland despite the rain having stopped.
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Rescuers have described the moment they found an elderly couple miraculously alive - but seriously injured - after a massive cliff landslide engulfed an Auckland beach house, destroying it in seconds.
The elderly woman was buried in the “massive landslide” for more than two hours and two others were injured after a house was “totally demolished” by mud and rock at Manukau Heads.
“The elderly lady, she was trapped in the rubble and was trapped for quite some time but there were some beams and parts of the structure that were protecting her in a way as well from further injury ... she was stuck I think from her legs,” said Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter critical flight paramedic Marcel Driessen. “There was a chap that was just covered and cut, some bruises and was pretty pale and it looked like he’d been through the wringer.”
He said the house “got crunched to the ground” after the pair and another person in the house heard a rumble that shook the foundations.
Dramatic aerial photos showed the utter destruction of the house near Orua Bay Beach. “When you got to the scene you could see a massive landslide,” Driessen said. “With this house... just rubble on the bottom, that was a house once and in between all the other houses and it was just totally demolished.”
The Orua Bay house was reduced to rubble after a landslide tore through it. Photo / Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopters
The slip was dozens that followed a second major deluge that hit Auckland yesterday, causing further damage to homes, streets and residents’ already frayed nerves Last night, the MetService issued a fresh heavy rain watch for part of Auckland - mainly the easter edges of the region - Coromandel, Bay of Plenty including Rotorua, Nelson and Fiordland.
Four people died after last Friday’s major deluge - at Orua Bay Beach yesterday, though, it was a tale of survival. As Driessen and the Westpac chopper arrived, two patients, the elderly man and a woman, were sitting to the side of the carnage with cuts and bruises while the elderly woman lay trapped inside.
As firefighters and an Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) crew fought to free the elderly woman, Driessen and his crew transported the seriously injured man via a ute to the Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter to be flown to hospital.
Another in a minor condition was being taken there by ambulance, while the elderly woman was also taken by helicopter after she was freed.
Auckland International Airport also assisted in the rescue, sending in a hovercraft with four additional USAR personnel. A geo-technician and structural engineer attended, the Fenz spokesperson said, to assess the risk to other buildings, which resulted in five other houses being evacuated as a precaution.
Three people are injured after a building collapsed in Orua Bay Beach at Manukau Heads. Photo / Michael Craig
More than 160 red notices have now been issued to Auckland buildings, deeming them unsafe, with as many as 6000 more properties still to be assessed.
Several major roads, meanwhile, remained closed as severe slips cut vital links.
Tamaki Drive in Auckland’s east is unlikely to open to motorists for a couple of days after slips blocked the road yesterday. It’s also not yet clear when alternate Ngapipi Rd will be cleared after a tree toppled over the road.
Workers are clearing a large slip on Tamaki Drive between Okahu Bay and Mission Bay. Photo / Dean Purcell
More heavy rain also forced Auckland’s Northern Motorway to close in both directions due to flooding between Esmonde and Northcote Rds for about 90 minutes yesterday, before reopening just before 8am.
Other sections of the city’s motorways have also been severely impacted, including the Southern Motorway at Greenlane and Ellerslie-Panmure, and the Southwestern Motorway (State Highway 20) southbound between Queenstown Rd and Neilson St.
The forecast is not so cheery for Bay of Plenty and Coromandel.
A heavy rain watch was issued by MetService for Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Coromandel, Fiordland, Nelson, Rotorua last night.
A front moving eastwards across the Bay of Plenty is now expected to “reverse direction” on Thursday and move back towards the Coromandel Peninsula, MetService forecast.
The red heavy rain warning for Bay of Plenty, west of Kawerau has now been lifted, but a heavy rainfall watch is now in its place for the possibility of further heavy rain on Thursday.
Huge rainfall has hit the Coromandel area causing slips and road closures. This slip at Thornton Bay meant residents in three homes below had to evacuate. Photo / Mike Scott
There is also now a heavy rainfall watch in place for the Hunua Ranges and Coromandel Peninsula. In all these areas, the amount of rain would not normally be enough to justify a watch, but the impact of this rain could be greater due to the recent flooding.
Orange heavy rain warnings remain in place for Bay of Plenty about and east of Kawerau, northern Gisborne and Westland.
Heavy rain watches remain in place for Western Tasman and northern Fiordland.
Multiple major entertainment events are cancelled around Auckland due to the weather, including the popular lantern festival, two movies in the park, music in the park and the Tūrama installation on Queen St.
Auckland's urban beaches remain off limits to swimmers, as another rain-maker threatens to bring further flooding and contamination. Image / Safeswim
