Auckland inspectors red-sticker more than 320 Auckland buildings after weeks of wild weather

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Inspectors have declared more than than 320 Auckland buildings uninhabitable due to weather damage over the past two weeks, including 12 from Cyclone Gabrielle’s storm.

An Auckland Council spokeswoman said about 326 homes and commercial buildings in the Auckland region now have red stickers as of about 3pm today.

More than 1770 have also received yellow stickers, while inspectors have visited close to 5000 buildings to assess them for damage after Auckland was hit first by widespread flooding and then by the massive storm brought by Cyclone Gabrielle.

The red stickered buildings include 12 deemed uninhabitable by council inspectors since Cyclone Gabrielle hit this week and about 304 others that were red stickered from between January 27 to before Gabrielle hit.

Red stickered homes are deemed to have suffered “moderate or heavy damage” that makes them a significant risk to “health of life”.

Owners cannot go into the buildings until they’ve been repaired and given a tick of approval by an inspector.

Yellow stickered homes may have “moderate” damage and owners may only enter the homes or the parts of the homes that have been yellow stickered for short periods until a qualified professional makes repairs.

Flooding and a landslip in Piha due to Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Paul Gillick

A home in Titirangi in Auckland's west. Photo / Dean Purcell

In total, Auckland Council’s latest figures for affected homes and buildings in the region as of about 3pm today include:

· About 295 buildings have been given rapid assessments for damage since Cyclone Gabrielle hit.

· That includes 22 red stickered, 76 yellow stickered and 180 given white stickers, meaning they may have suffered little or no damage and can be used (although they might still have suffered unseen damage and could still be unsafe).

' Since before Cylcone Gabrielle but after January 27, about 304 homes have been red stickered, 1767 yellow stickered and 2870 given white stickers.

· Of those assessed since January 27, 4479 are residential buildings and 464 are commercial buildings or large apartment complexes.

However, with assessments ongoing, the Auckland Council spokeswoman said these numbers are subject to regular changes.

It comes as Craig Hobbs, director of Auckland Council’s building services, told a press conference this afternoon that teams had been undertaking ground and aerial surveillance to see the impact of of the cyclone.

He said based on that 120 teams were out assessing spots across auckland doing rapid building assessments.

Five teams were also assessing roads in Muriwai in Auckland’s west.

He said it was “critical” people remain out of their properties in the area because it is still unstable.