Flooding at Diocesan School for Girls in Epsom, Auckland. Photo / Supplied
Flooding at Diocesan School for Girls in Epsom, Auckland. Photo / Supplied
Some businesses are asking office staff to work from home, others have closed their doors until further notice and some schools have delayed their first days back as a result of the extreme weather.
Vodafone’s office-based workers in Auckland have been asked to work from home in cases where it is safe to do so while the weather warnings are in effect.
“We do have teams who manage the network who are required to be onsite. We also have people who can respond to outages who will be out and about, and our stores will remain open to help people with communication issues, unless it is unsafe,” a spokesperson said.
“The safety of our people is our primary concern. We have been advising the team to follow Civil Defence guidelines and offering support where needed.”
Air New Zealand’s Hub on Fanshawe St is closed until further notice due to flood damage, however, the airline said all other work locations are operational, including its campus at Auckland International Airport.
Workers at Spark are also able to work from home, with a spokesperson saying leaders were in contact with its people to ensure they understand how team members have been impacted and where support is needed.
So far this year Niwa said Auckland has already recorded 38 per cent of its usual annual rainfall - and 769 per cent of its usual January rainfall.
While most schools will still reopen this week, Auckland Primary Principal’s Association president Kyle Brewerton told the Herald he is aware of some that were scheduled to start back tomorrow but which have postponed.
“Some only for the day, just to allow families to pretty much deal with insurance companies, assessors and also some staff have obviously been impacted.”
Auckland Primary Principal’s Association president and Remuera Intermediate principal Kyle Brewerton. Photo / Supplied
He said around about 20 schools across Auckland had been directly impacted by the flooding.
“I think it’s really only if there’s significant damage at the school or in that local community that will prevent the schools from opening.”
Auckland Business Chamber chief executive Simon Bridges told the Herald in general there has been a lot of devastation for businesses.
“A bunch of businesses, even if they weren’t damaged, just haven’t been able to make the money they were hoping for over what they thought might be a sunny long weekend with lots of things going on. So this is a real body blow to businesses, particularly small and medium-sized ones.”
Bridges said business owners were now having to turn their mind to whether to encourage staff to work from home.
“At this moment, weather dependent of course because if that turns entirely sour that would change things, but there’s not really hard and fast rules.
“The question I think business owners will be asking is, is working from home a potential for their staff member, if it is, it’s got to be seriously considered, [and] what’s the state of public transport going to be like tomorrow.”
Auckland Transport acting chief executive Mark Lambert said this morning 45 roads were still partially or fully closed.
“Tuesday, the plan is to have up to 90 per cent capacity across all of our bus services, obviously subject to any further weather impact tonight.”
Lambert said Kiwirail is expects to operate limited services on all lines.
For those wanting to support local businesses, Bridges said when Aucklanders know they’re in the clear regarding the weather it was important to get back out there.
“Because that cafe wants your business, and needs it actually, it’s been a tough time for it already. They thought they had Elon John, Fat Boy Slim and Laneway and all of these things that were going to give them a real boost and it just absolutely hasn’t happened for albeit understandable reasons.”
Auckland Chamber of Commerce CEO Simon Bridges. Photo / Jed Bradley
