Heartbreak as West Auckland man’s tiny home destroyed after flood damaged real home in 2021

Andrew Marshall was just starting renovations on his permanent West Auckland home made unliveable by floods 18 months ago - when on Friday night the “tiny home” he was using as temporary accommodation was also flooded and left askew propped on top of a car.

The Candia Rd resident living west of Western Heights was coming to terms with now having two practically unliveable homes now after his temporary shipping container-style home was was washed down the driveway during Auckland’s wettest day in history on January 27.

“We obviously just had another big rain event. We had a flood about a year and a half ago and that tiny home was our temporary home was our emergency accommodation after the first flood,” Marshall said.

“Now we’ve obviously had this second one so we’ve just got our gear out of storage and just starting with the reno [of their permanent home that was flooded in 2021].”

Marshall is one of thousands of Aucklanders hit hard by the deluge. Several homes in Hillsborough, Massey, Stanley Pt and Northcote Pt have been left teetering on the top of cliffs after dramatic landslides, and Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni says some people have lost entire homes.

Andrew Marshall's tiny home slid down the drive yesterday. Photo / Elizabeth Binning

Another victim of Friday’s floods, Anne Aalbers’ son and daughter-in-law’s wedding reception was cut short last night after the Coast Guard building next door collapsed in a landslide at French Bay on the Manukau Harbour.

“Some people were scared, but I think most people were just shocked and there was a slight bit of ‘wow, I’ve never seen this before’.

“Of course there were all sorts of jokes about the fact that Dave and Lauren would never forget this night.”

Aalbers said three tables of people never received any food as the food truck was unable to deliver the remaining food.

Despite the dangerous weather, she said it was still a very special celebration.

A wedding reception at the French Bay Yacht Club was interrupted when the coast guard building next door collapsed.

Also facing a major clean-up is Trushar Maisuria, who was surveying the extent of the damage done to his Don Buck Rd property yesterday morning.

Trushar Maisuria arriving to survey the damage to his Don Buck Road home after the worst rain on record for Auckland hit last night. Photo / Dean Purcell

MetService said a record amount of rain had fallen on Auckland in 24 hours - by 1am yesterday, the region had recorded 249mm of rain, smashing the previous 24-hour record of 161.8mm, set in February 1985.

And monthly records have also been broken - the wettest January recorded at the Auckland Airport weather station until now was in 1986 with 20cm and the wettest month ever was July 1998 with 30cm. So far this month 32cm of rain has been recorded - a “massive” amount, MetService said.