Hundreds of pages of internal correspondence from Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency during the Auckland Anniversary floods have revealed damage control efforts over the highly criticised decision to stop online traffic updates, and alarmed requests from Government ministers over deadly slips and damage bills.
The Minister of Finance’s office also asked for “high-level assumptions” of the cost of the January 27 floods from all the relevant agencies just a few days after the downpour - the numbers of which were redacted from the Herald.
The 456 pages of documents and correspondence obtained under Official Information span just two days during Auckland’s record-breaking floods beginning January 27, in which four people died.
The correspondence delves into some of the damage control of the much-criticised decision for Waka Kotahi’s live Twitter and online updates to end just after 8pm on January 27, as the situation with the city’s widespread flooding and road blockages was reaching its peak.
Waka Kotahi has already revealed that a team leader came back from annual leave to resume online updates after Minister of Transport Michael Wood said at 9.01pm that night he had “instructed the agency to re-open their channels urgently”.
Woods called both Waka Kotahi board chairman Dr Paul Reynolds and the acting chief executive the night of January 27 to “discuss concerns with the lack of communications on Waka Kotahi social media channels, and to ask for these to be reinstated”.
A review was subsequently launched by Waka Kotahi into its communications response and an apology was made to Wood.
An internal email from Waka Kotahi media manager Felix Marwick just a few hours later that night at 11.35pm reflects on the communications failure.
“Got there eventually. The problem is our social media game is normally so strong – so, it really sticks out when it’s not on the mark,” Marwick wrote.
“They really do save our bacon more often than not… it’s a team of three in ATOC [Auckland Transport Operation Centre] that have been pulling some very long hours with the North Island weather dramas. The person that left at 8pm had pulled a 12-hour shift, and the team lead came back from leave to get material out tonight.”
An earlier email that night from Marwick seems to place the blame for the social media blackout on the ATOC workers.
“FYI – minister was cross at lack of social media posts from ATOC. This is not our fault. Deborah Hume [Waka Kotahi innovation manager] pulled rank and has told them to get content going ASAP,” Marwick wrote.
The Herald can reveal there was only one Waka Kotahi social media operator on that evening whose shift lasted from 10:30am to 7.50pm on January 27.
However, there were seven Waka Kotahi website operators working from the early evening on the night of January 27 overnight into the morning of January 28.
The social media team leader then logged on at 10.40pm after being dragged back from leave to respond to Minister Wood’s demand.
A message from West Auckland Labour MP and Minister for the Earthquake Commission, Deborah Russell, relayed in texts between senior Waka Kotahi staffers also draws attention to a deadly slip left unmarked two days after the January 27 downpour.
“Another one for AT from Deborah Russell out west: ‘I just drove Scenic Drive. There’s a new slip on top of an old slip there on a corner. The new slip had taken out the verge… [someone] who cuts the corner a bit close - like 50cm too close - will go off the edge and die. I shifted some road cones to create a one-lane road, but it won’t be nearly enough. Who can I call at AT yo [sic] get this sorted? (No answer on the emergency line)’.”
Another email from Ministry of Transport director Karen Lyons to someone in Waka Kotahi relays that at a meeting with a Government minister on the morning of January 30, there was a request from “aviation stakeholders” to reduce the mandatory seven-day isolation period for workers down to five days.
“I understand that at their meeting with the minister this morning, aviation stakeholders took the opportunity to raise the issue of the five-day isolation period for Covid-19 positive cases, in light of the need to resource the response to the Auckland weather event,” Lyons wrote.
Lyons says she has alerted the Ministry of Health to the issue being raised with the relevant minister that day, January 30, “to ask whether the response to the Auckland weather event might be taken into consideration when they next review existing Covid-19 measures (which include the case isolation period)”.
On January 30, a senior analyst in the Ministry of Finance was also in touch with Waka Kotahi executives to request an estimate of potential costs to transport infrastructure from the floods.
“I appreciate the costs or activities might be a bit unclear at this point in time, and there will be some high-level assumptions, but if you could provide any information through to me by 2pm, that would be much appreciated!”
The Minister of Finance wanted to know what short-term costs Waka Kotahi would be incurring and whether they “related to Government obligations (e.g. legal obligations) or discretionary response measures?” He also asked about a time estimate of when these cost estimates would arrive, and whether the costs could be met from existing funds or would need new funding.
An email back that afternoon gives a rundown of the damage costs associated with Waka Kotahi, KiwiRail, City Rail Link, the Civil Aviation Authority, the Transport Accident Investigation Commission and an entity initialled MNZ.
However, all of these costs were redacted from the Official Information release provided to the Herald.
Also among the correspondence was an email from Waka Kotahi senior adviser Rebecca Rix announcing a “huge increase in traffic” on their Journey Planner site to 668,174 views on Saturday, January 28, when “we’d usually expect 20,000 - 30,000″.
Various Government agencies, Auckland Council and the mayor’s office have been drip-feeding official information documents over the past month, as a rapid review into the emergency response to the January 27 floods commissioned by Mayor Brown was expected before the end of march.
The review is being conducted by former police commissioner Mike Bush, and after several delays, was due to be released this week.
However, both Brown and Bush confirmed on Friday that the review was again to be delayed further.
“I am just as keen as everybody else to receive the findings of the independent review into the events of January 27 and 28,” Brown told the Herald.
“Both [the] council and I have received excerpts of the review. It is my understanding that the release has been delayed due to some individuals, not [due to] the mayor’s office asking for more time.”
Brown commissioned the review from his own office budget on January 30, saying it would “look into all aspects, all people, myself included, plus the professionals, plus even the Government’s involvement in the response” to the January 27 floods: “Lessons must be learned”.
The offenders took off in a stolen vehicle with cigarettes, cash and other items.