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More than 200 lifts in Auckland highrises, including apartment buildings, hotels, hospitals, and malls have been damaged by flooding and an elevator company says the worst damaged ones will take up to a year to replace.
Auckland mayor, Wayne Brown, told the AM show this morning there are over 200 lifts not working across Auckland city and people, including elderly, were stuck and isolated at the top of apartment buildings.
Brown said Emergency Management didn’t realise it was such an issue and the incident started to be addressed yesterday, although he had known about it “for a while”.
“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,” said Brown.
A spokesperson for the high-profile elevator company, Otis, confirmed they are responding to a large number of lifts that are currently shut down across the city.
“A large amount of these are in the Auckland CBD but also range right out to Papakura,” they said.
The spokesperson said that some lifts have already been written off and will require full replacement which will take upwards of a year to install.
“We let an apartment know not too long ago that if they have elderly tenants at the top they should just move out now because it doesn’t look like these lifts can be repaired, yet fully replaced.
“Some repairs will be dealt with for the next six months ... There have just been so many all at once.
“I know the property managers are hunting us to fix everything but the reality is it’s not that simple,” they said.
Brown said that the lift problem had already been dealt with in his eyes and emergency services were responding to more important events.
“Right at the moment there are people who really are in trouble and that’s what we’re focused on,” said Brown.
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown said more than 200 lifts across Auckland had been affected by the floods and elderly people were isolated in top-floor apartments. Photo / Michael Craig
Managing director of Schindler Lifts, Karen Papps, said they were also in contact with Emergency Services and assisting in fixing the elevators.
“We are prioritising aged care, medical care, and public transport facilities,” said Papps.
“All of these elevators have been affected but are not out of operation,” she said.
Te Whatu Ora has been approached for comment regarding potential lift damage at Auckland Hospitals.
Auckland Emergency Management Deputy Controller, Rachel Kelleher, said Auckland Emergency Management has been advised of lift and escalator outages across the region due to flooding in basements and lift shafts.
“We are currently not aware of any requests for assistance from people affected by this issue. However, we urge anybody who may have welfare concerns to call us on 0800 222 200,” said Kelleher.
She said that lift companies confirmed they are working at pace to identify and fix any outages.
“Property owners and residents are advised to contact their body corporate or property managers to report any incidents of this nature,” Kelleher said.
