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Calls are growing for pine trees above Coach Trail Villas in Waiwera to be removed after a slip sent a large tree crashing into the apartment complex on Friday, April 24.
Coach Trail Villas’ resident Dave Preston says he was woken by what he thought was a “massive clap of thunder over the house”.
“I looked out the window because I could hear people yelling and could see parts of branches all over the place.”
Preston says he dressed and rushed outside to find a neighbouring resident trapped on their deck, unable to use the stairs, which were covered in debris.
“We had to get him evacuated, as a big branch had come through his roof and landed on his bed and he was really shaken. We got him to a safe area and checked all the other neighbours.”
Residents are still dealing with the aftermath a week later, with insurance assessors and engineers visiting the site, and the worst-hit building still waiting to be covered with tarpaulin, he says.
Preston has lived at the complex for 19 years, and is currently head of the body corporate, and says there have been concerns about the pine trees for many years.
“The first email I have bringing it to the attention of the Ministry of Transport was in 2014, and they said they had been surveyed by experts and considered to be safe. We had a fall of pines behind Coach Trail then, which is why we were concerned about the remaining pines and thought they should be removed.”
He says the latest incident has renewed calls from the Waiwiera community for trees near the edge of the escarpment above the village to be removed.
“It was a miracle no one was hurt last week, and they need to be removed now before someone is killed by a falling pine hitting the road or other buildings.”
Preston believes an earlier slip in the same location two weeks earlier may have contributed to the tree falling.
“They came and cleared it but that was a wake-up call. If they had surveyed a little closer, they might have seen that there was a possibility that the tree could come down.”
Auckland Transport (AT) says it has carried out a preliminary investigation of the slip site and found it to be stable.
“However, a further investigation of the area will determine our next steps.”
The incident comes amid a sharp increase in severe weather events affecting Auckland and the wider country.
Insurance data shows Auckland experienced 17 severe weather events in the past year, with storms affecting parts of New Zealand on average every eight days, compared with every 19 days over the previous 15 years.
Between autumn last year and summer this year, insurers handled more than 33,000 weather-related claims from 46 separate storm events.
Summer storms are also becoming more frequent, accounting for 61 per cent of events, compared with previous years when most storms occurred in autumn and winter.
