Residents evacuated from their Mt Eden apartments are now allowed back to their homes, 15 days after they were forced out amid fears a historic shot tower could collapse. Photo / George Heard
Residents evacuated from their Mt Eden apartments are now allowed back to their homes, 15 days after they were forced out amid fears a historic shot tower could collapse. Photo / George Heard
Residents evacuated from their Mt Eden apartments are now allowed back to their homes, 15 days after they were forced out amid fears a historic shot tower could collapse.
The Colonial Ammunition Company Shot Tower on Normandy Rd has now been demolished, after Cyclone Gabrielle’s high winds created fears of an imminent collapse more than two weeks ago.
Auckland Emergency Management (AEM) reported the successful demolition this afternoon and said affected residents had been told it was safe to return.
AEM established a temporary exclusion zone around the tower on Monday, February 13, prompting several residential and commercial buildings’ evacuation, or partial evacuation.
The Shot Tower on Normanby Rd, Mt Eden, was under threat of collapse as extreme weather from cyclone Gabrielle affected Auckland. Photo / George Heard
AEM controller Mace Ward said the forecast high winds and weather conditions at the time could have caused the 30m tower to collapse, damaging surrounding buildings.
The evacuation order was made after advice from engineers, who undertook a structural inspection of the tower, and MetService.
“Our building assessment team, alongside welfare officers and the police [were] on site alerting residents of around 50 apartments that they need[ed] to urgently leave their homes,” Ward said.
“This [was] an understandably upsetting situation for these people, however, the risk of injury as a result of the tower collapsing, [was] unacceptable.”
The Colonial Ammunition Company Shot Tower on Normandy Rd has now been demolished, after Cyclone Gabrielle’s high winds created fears of an imminent collapse more than two weeks ago. Photo / George Heard
Engineers advised that all buildings within 35m of the tower should be evacuated and reassessed before the surrounding buildings are safe to reoccupy.
Meanwhile, AEM said three of Auckland’s regional parks would reopen tomorrow, including Ātie Creek, Tāwharanui and Hunua.
Ātiu Creek in north Auckland, about 13km from Wellsford, south of the Oruawharo River in the Kaipara Harbour.
Three other regional parks remain closed.
AEM also said the latest number of red-stickered buildings in the city since Cyclone Gabrielle was 224, on top of those already deemed uninhabitable from the city’s Anniversary Weekend flooding.
