Editorial: A week to fix storm damage far too long

Wild weather is an expected event this time every year. Photo / Dean Purcell

Opinion

Delays at getting hot water back on-line for stricken customers inconceivable

Wild weather is hardly an unexpected event at this time of the year. Aucklanders have every reason to believe that any problem arising from strong winds or heavy rain will be dealt with quickly and efficiently. It was, therefore, a matter for astonishment and alarm that a few days ago about 100 houses were still having hot water restored a week after a damaging but hardly unprecedented storm hit the city.

Image 1 of 27: A fallen tree in Mt Albert, Auckland. Photo / Timothy Williams

Henderson resident Gary Hall, one of the victims, summed up matters when he said: "We lived in India for five months, and it's actually easier ... putting up with their Third World antics than it is living here in New Zealand when you think we're in the 21st century and they can't get anything like this sorted."

To that, most Aucklanders would surely say "hear hear".

It seems almost inconceivable that it would take lines company Vector a week to restore hot water to some of the 90,000 houses that were left without power.

Rising power charges and convoluted billing have hardly endeared the industry to consumers. Added to that sense of grievance now is a failure to respond to stricken customers with sufficient urgency.

It was not all Vector's fault. It seems equally inconceivable that a special permit was required by the Auckland Council to allow specialist machinery to travel down Scenic Drive to lift a large tree off a Titirangi house. Again, the needs of badly inconvenienced Aucklanders were not uppermost in some minds. In future, they must be.