Auckland Floods: Herne Bay road closed after tree collapse

West End Rd in Herne Bay was closed shortly after 7am today after a large tree collapsed, causing a fourth slip along a 100m bank on the northern side.

Mark Allen, who lives in a townhouse across the road, said he had just got out of bed about 6.30am when he heard a loud crack, followed by a loud whoosh as the tree crashed on to the road.”It was pretty crazy,” he said.

Allen said residents of six townhouses overlooking Cox’s Bay are concerned by a huge pohutukawa tree on the bank that reaches over the road towards their properties.

There are now four slips along the bank on the road, including a slip that has completely destroyed a joint driveway and left one house teetering on the edge. This slip and a second, large slip, occurred on Friday evening. The fourth slip occurred about five months ago, but has got larger with more debris coming down since Friday.

The large tree that fell on to West End Rd this morning.

Find full coverage of the Auckland Floods here.

Emergency services are dealing with reports of trees that have fallen on homes in Whitford, and flooding and landslips in Devonport, with some residents using buckets to furiously bail out water. Another month’s worth of rain has fallen in Auckland in just 24 hours, with Northland, Coromandel and Bay of Plenty also in the line of fire of the latest “atmospheric river”.

One of four slips on West End Rd showing one house teetering on the edge of a joint driveway that has been completely destroyed. The slip occurred on Friday. Photo / Bernard Orsman

Auckland’s Northern Motorway was closed by flooding in both directions between Esmond and Northcote roads for about 90 minutes on Wednesday, before reopening just before 8am.

West End Rd resident Mark Allen heard a loud crack followed by a loud whoosh when a large tree came down on to the road this morning. Photo / Bernard Orsman

Other sections of the city’s motorways have also been severely affected including the Southern Motorway at Greenlane and Ellerslie-Panmure, and the Southwestern Motorway (State Highway 20) southbound between Queenstown Rd and Neilson St. State Highways 1 and 16 further north of Auckland have been closed by slips and flooding.