Cyclone Gabrielle: Auckland teen sisters recall evacuation from Dairy Flat home by boat

Two teenage sisters living on one of Auckland’s most weather-beaten stretches of road have described watching the floodwaters rise outside their home for the third time in weeks - just before being evacuated by boat.

Olivia Hesling, 15, and her sister Emily, 13, live on Blackridge Rd in the suburb of Dairy Flat, on Auckland’s North Shore, and were among many people who were last night evacuated due to another torrential downpour.

Fire and Emergency NZ were calling for residents’ help accessing boats they could use to reach people cut off by floods in Dairy Flat last night.

“They came up to our back door and they said you guys need to get out. So we grabbed everything and got in the boat,” Emily said.

“They put on life jackets and they rode us out of our property over the other side of the bridge where it was dry. Then we got picked up from there and got taken to our neighbours.”

MetService figures show nearby areas Riverhead and Coatesville recorded 154.5mm rain in the space of 24 hours, including 78.5mm in the hour to 5pm yesterday.

“That 154.5mm in 24 hours figure was the largest amount recorded for the Auckland region,” a MetService spokesperson said.

Olivia was more than familiar with the sight of their street flooding after the same happened in the January 27 Auckland floods and when Cyclone Gabrielle struck.

“So we got home and it was raining really heavily and we could see there were puddles growing on the driveway, and I thought to myself we should get the car up to our neighbour’s house in case,” Olivia said.

“Then we kind of got in, unpacked our bags and stuff and we looked out the window and it was getting up by the post box. Like flooding, like how it was last time, we knew it was going to keep coming.

“I went away and came back and it was already a lot higher. So I think the water levels were moving a lot quicker than last time, which was really nerve-wracking.”

But despite her familiarity with the dangers of their location, Olivia wasn’t keen to evacuate again.

“We obviously just got all valuable items and everything up high, and when the firefighters came they really strongly advised us to leave,” she said.

“And that’s one thing I didn’t want to do because I wanted to know what’s happening. I didn’t like to be in the dark of what’s happening to my house. So then they evacuated us.”

Neighbours Scott Lester and his wife were driving home from a family funeral and became caught in a dip in the Blackridge Rd when the rain and water levels started to rise.

“When it’s torrential and it’s deeper in front of us and deeper behind us, you can’t see anything, and then a fin pops up in front of you,” Lester said.

The “fin” was the road peeling.

Police have evacuated some households in the Dairy Flat area, on Blackridge Road in particular.
If you are in the area and you feel unsafe in your home, a shelter has been opened at the Dairy Flats Community Hall at 4 Postman Road.
There is blankets, tea/coffee and kai.

— Auckland Emergency Management (AEM) (@AucklandCDEM) February 24, 2023

Blackridge Rd is still damaged from Auckland’s anniversary weekend floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, so a new deluge of rain pushed the seal up again.

“Auckland Council were out working on the roads yesterday fixing them,” Lester said.

“At least we have power. It was unbearable last time.”

Rodney Local Board deputy chairperson Louise Johnston said the volume of rain was concentrated all at one time in one place.

“The fire brigade was there, calling for boats because they couldn’t reach people,” she said.

“They opened up the Dairy Flat hall for people who were stranded, and they spent the night there.”

Floodwaters starting to rise after weather warnings were issued for Auckland and Northland a week after Cyclone Gabrielle hit the majority of the North Island. Photo / Dean Purcell

Olivia and Emily Hesling survey their swimming pool that was damaged after a deluge hit parts of Auckland yesterday. Their home was also badly damaged in a downpour last month. Photo / Dean Purcell

Johnston says future housing developments in the area need to be readdressed.

“A lot of the areas around the roads which were turned into streams are designated for future development,” she said.

As part of Auckland’s Unitary Plan, Dairy Flat and Silverdale will become a new urban development.

It will have a new town centre, new transportation links, and approximately 70,000 new high-density houses.

“Council has to go back to the drawing board about where they’re going to put our new areas because they can’t go in flood zones,” Johnston said.

Chris Buckman and Scott Lester survey their damaged bridge on their adjoining properties on Blackridge Rd, Dairy Flat. Both men had to be rescued by FENZ when heavy rains hit parts of Auckland yesterday. Photo / Dean Purcell

Daniel Piper and his wife’s house had been yellow-stickered during the previous weather events.

They were not home yesterday afternoon, however, Piper’s flood-damaged possessions were still on the driveway.

The latest downpour caused all of those to wash away from the driveway, across the property, and down the street.

“During the first floods, a section of our deck was picked up, moved 50 metres and dropped on top of our fence,” he said.

“But this time, the water has washed the same segment off the fence, into a nearby tree, and spun it around.”

Piper’s house stands 1.5m higher than the road, but last night the water rose 250-300mm inside the house.

“The last one came up 720mm inside the house for us,” he said.

Their insurance company had assigned them builders and a rubbish skip following the last storm, however, progress was not as quick as they had liked.

“We finally received a skip yesterday, however, the builders had barely filled it.”

Groups of friends and neighbours have been helping them clean up their stuff and put it into the skips on the property.

Friends of Daniel Piper help clean up his home on Blackridge Rd, Dairy Flat. Photo / Dean Purcell

Olivia and Emily’s mother Talisha Hesling also spoke about how the three of them were evacuated from their house last night.

Fire and Emergency knocked on their door in the afternoon suggesting they move as the water level was rising.

“We saw there were lights and things going on outside, so we knew we needed to get out while we could,” Hesling said.

Her husband had been in town and explained how he found out his family had been evacuated.

“She calls me and said, ‘I’m picking my son up at about 5pm, do you want to get on a bus and I can meet you at Albany Park-and-Ride?’

“Forty-five minutes later, she calls me and said ‘we’re being evacuated’.”

Daniel Piper’s flood-damaged possessions outside his home. Photo / Dean Purcell.

The Hesling family was hoping the water would spare their house this time.

“Because we were hit quite badly last time, we were trying to stop the water from getting in the house,” Hesling said.

“Why were houses allowed to be built on this land?

“Every time it rains, we think, what are we going to do? Is it going to flood again?

“What is meant to be a once-in-a-lifetime event has happened three times in a month.”