My Account
As work continues to clear the debris and fix the roads from last month’s floods, calls are being made for urgent changes to Auckland’s emergency management system after a lack of official information and guidance as the crisis unfolded.
Elected members, community response volunteers and even the Mayor said they struggled to find out what was going on from Council officials late on January 27, relying instead on local social media pages and radio phone-ins to find out the extent of the problem.
Rodney Councillor Greg Sayers said he only realised something was “terribly wrong” when his stepson called him after being stuck on SH1 at Puhoi for several hours before being turned back to Warkworth.
“He, along with hundreds of other travellers, was stranded in Warkworth with no information about where to go, or about any alternative routes. Any communications from Auckland Emergency Management (AEM) were completely absent,” he said.
“I called them and told them the townships of Warkworth, Puhoi, Wellsford and Kumeu needed immediate emergency assistance. Rural areas were also flooding and had roadside slips blocking roads.
“I didn’t receive any of this information from AEM – I was getting notified through phone calls, texts and community Facebook pages.”
Meanwhile, recently elected Rodney Local Board member Ivan Wagstaff was unsure what he could or should be doing officially, but knew something needed to happen, so went into Warkworth from his Matakana home and, with Neighbourhood Support Rodney coordinator Sue Robinson, got the town hall opened to take in the stranded.
He is now calling for information on community resilience and response information to be part of the Rodney Local Board plan process, so Board members and staff know how well communities are equipped to deal with emergencies.
Both he and Sayers are supporting Wayne Brown’s call for an independent review of Council failings during the emergency event.
“The Council emergency response failed to get the communications needed to the people who needed them. Entire communities and their families felt totally isolated, not just for hours but for days, without any way of being told what was going on,” Sayers said.
“It was only through the rallying of neighbours, volunteers and local contractors living in different areas that people got the help they desperately needed.
“The community has selflessly rallied together and they’ve been remarkable. But there is also a lot of anger towards the Auckland Council.”
He said that the storm had compounded and highlighted ongoing problems with rural roads that have been neglected and not properly maintained.
“Many of the rural road slips could have been prevented if the culverts and drains had been properly maintained,” he said. “Even prior to the storm, people were furious that Auckland Transport took so long to respond to road maintenance requests.”
Sayers said the Mayor was aware of the problems, especially since visiting Rodney to see storm damage for himself on January 31 (see story this page). He has since written to Council chief executive Jim Stabback and Wayne Brown, pointing out that the storms have highlighted failures in local road and drainage maintenance, and again calling for better budget provision for Rodney’s unsealed road network.
Sayers also wants to see the appointment of an independent clerk of works responsible for scrutinising and signing off on contractors’ maintenance work before they are paid.
Mayor fires salvos and promises improvements after Puhoi visit
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown called for emergency management to be decentralised after visiting flood-ravaged Puhoi to see slips and storm damage for himself.
Accompanied by Rodney Councillor Greg Sayers, Brown spoke to a number of people involved on the front line in Puhoi, including fire chief Russell Green and contractors from Hodz Drainage.
Speaking exclusively to Mahurangi Matters after the early morning visit on Tuesday, January 31, the Mayor praised local residents, businesses and contractors for how they had tackled the massive clean-up over the weekend.
“The community has really got stuck in and they’ve been amazing,” he said.
However, Brown said communication during Friday’s floods had been dreadful and even he had struggled to find out what was going on.
“We’ve learned that a lot of central management that I’ve inherited is not such a good idea,” he said.
“Communication has been dreadful and I’ve been accused of being the worst possible person, because I couldn’t find out what was happening either. I think we have to get decentralising.”
Brown was critical of both Council and Auckland Transport (AT) for being urban-focused.
“Everyone at AT and Auckland Council has been so centralised in the city they forget that 60% of the area is rural, but I’m a town and country boy so we’ll redress that. I want to put some rural people on the board.
“It takes a bit of reminding to them that we’re a council for rural areas,” he said.
“I’m accused of being an angry person – well, I’m an angry person because they’re not looking after people properly.”
The Mayor said more people doing practical things more regularly was what was required, rather than lots of people writing reports.
“There’s too much money spent on management and not enough on doing things,” he said.
“I’m quite happy to upset those people and say go and find something else to do. I want stuff done, not reports written – people with practical experience doing things on the ground.”
However, he also said people needed to take a degree of responsibility for their own property and where it was situated.
“People do have to do some things themselves,” he said. “If someone rings and says the drain is blocked outside my house, I’d say get a shovel and go and do it, if you can. We don’t pay rates for someone to be standing outside your house 24/7.
“And if you’ve chosen to live in a low-lying area, or live above cliffs, you’ve got to take even more of an interest.”
Brown warned Rodney residents not to hold out hope for lots of road sealing under current budget restraints, but he maintained that better construction and regular maintenance was the way forward.
“If people had unsealed roads that actually worked, they would be okay,” he said. “I’ve lived on these roads for years and know how to build them properly.
“The way they handle loose metal roads is so stupid it’s hard to believe, because the AT board doesn’t have one transport expert, one engineer or anyone who lives rurally and that’s going to change, and I’m going to piss some people off to make that change.
“I don’t care about that – if you’re going to make an omelette, you’ve got to break some eggs.
“We need proper roads that are maintained. I’m going to have to fight to get what are practical, sensible solutions that work.”
Road crews double down to bail out community
Whether it was clearing blocked roads, rescuing stranded people or even towing a bogged fire engine, local roading, drainage and construction companies led the charge to get the Mahurangi community back on its feet after the floods.
Crews abandoned any plans they’d had for the Auckland Anniversary weekend and took to their diggers, trucks and excavators to help wherever they were needed around the clock.
Wharehine had one of the biggest tasks, clearing a 100-metre long slip on State Highway 1 between Puhoi and the old Hungry Creek art school, as well as flooding and slips in the Dome Valley and along much of SH16.
Managing director Rob Gibson said there were more than 50 staff working 12-hour shifts day and night over the weekend, clearing mud and fallen trees, directing traffic and ferrying people through floodwaters.
He said although it was hard work for everybody, he was impressed at how everyone reacted and pulled together.
“Yes, it was a disaster, but it actually brought people together,” he said. “The general community were awesome. People brought food out for us and they even put meals on for our guys in Wellsford – I can’t say enough for them.
“And all our guys, they came in from their families and homes to work, and some of them were flooded as well. I’m really proud of everyone.”
He said it may have been a different story if the community had needed to wait for outside contractors.
“We’re lucky we’ve got big gear and it’s all based locally. We can respond really quickly,” Gibson said.
While Wharehine worked on state highways, Rhodes for Roads was dealing with blocked roads at Tauhoa, Kaipara Hills, Ahuroa, Puhoi and down to Werenui, including a slew of slips affecting West Coast Road.
Contracts manager Phil Mason said he had nine gangs working non-stop from January 27 until Waitangi Day.
“I’ve been here 30 years and this is definitely one of the worst ones I’ve seen,” he said. “Usually you get little areas affected, but not such a big area where so many roads go at once.”
Mason Contractors was also clearing rural roads for Downers and they also had extra crews working throughout.
Managing director Lance O’Callaghan said there were slips and blockages everywhere, with Matakana Valley Road, Pakiri Road and Ahuroa Road among the worst affected.
“We opened up Pakiri Hill, but it’s still rough,” he said. “Ahuroa is the worst – that was a huge great slip.
“We had about half our guys out working through the long weekend,” he said. “We just like to do what we can to look after locals.”
Masons also hauled out a large shipping container that floated out from beside Puhoi’s General Store during the worst floods in living memory and ended up wedged in the railings on a pedestrian bridge.
Exaro Contracting director and operations manager Ivan King found himself stranded on the wrong side of the Puhoi floodwaters from his home in Saleyards Road, but was soon in amongst it and helping people.
“We have a subdivision in Orewa we’re working on, so about 4 o’clock I thought I’d go to have a look at that and make sure everything was okay. The water was just coming up over the road as I left and when I came back 45 minutes later, I couldn’t get home.”
King had an excavator at home, so asked a mate to drive it down to him, then they spent the next several hours ferrying people backwards and forwards and retrieving stranded cars, until the water got too deep for even the excavator.
“It was unbelievable, I’ve never witnessed that amount of water, and for it to come up so quickly … you couldn’t believe your eyes,” he said.
“We had to wait for about three hours for the waters to subside a bit then we carried on ferrying people from about 10 o’clock.”
King was back again the next morning, together with another Puhoi contractor, Sean Hoddle of Hodz Drainage, who brought staff, trucks and diggers in from Helensville. Jethro Drum from DrumEx Earthmoving also got stuck in to help those in and around the community.
“We worked all along the main road through Puhoi, clearing slips along there, pulled out trees and started moving things out of people’s driveways, then went up Fiddlers Hill,” Hoddle said.
“After that, we started helping at the store. We brought in a six-wheeler to help get rid of all their rubbish. They lost pretty much everything. You just do what you can; it’s what it’s all about.”
King agreed.
“We were just trying to help the community. It’s nice to be able to help with something. There are not many places where everyone would pull together like Puhoi did.”
Stranded travellers find warm welcome in Warkworth
The Mahurangi community was quick to step up to help stranded travellers on the night of the big flood on January 27.
The state highway both north and south of the town was blocked by flooding and slips, and alternative routes such as State Highway 16 were also closed. This left hundreds of people with nowhere to stay or get a meal because by the time many arrived, supermarkets and other food outlets had closed.
The Warkworth Community Response Group were only alerted to the situation when group coordinator Sue Robertson happened to hear a caller on radio station 1ZB say her family was stuck at the BP in Warkworth.
Group chair Jim Flewitt says Robertson went to the Grange, while other members began the process of trying to open known evacuation centres such as Mahurangi College and the Warkworth Town Hall. Unfortunately, their calls all went to answer phones.
“We have a base under the Warkworth RSA, so we opened that up instead and directed people from the BP there,” he says. “I guess we took in about 50 people including passengers off a coach.”
Meanwhile, on his own initiative, Rodney Local Board member Ivan Wagstaff opened the Warkworth Town Hall, providing shelter for at least another 40 people overnight. The Mobil Service Station did its bit to help travellers and Educare at the Grange also offered people a place to sleep.
As word spread through social media channels, the Warkworth Lions clubs and individuals started to respond by organising food and offering people beds, blankets and a place to shower.
The owner of Green Bay Fruit & Vegies at the Grange, Frank Lu, was among those who found themselves unable to travel to Auckland.
He returned to his shop, resigned to the fact that he would have to spend the night there. His shop door was open when a woman approached him and asked to use the toilet, because both McDonald’s and the BP station had closed.
What started as a trickle, soon became a flood of people through the doors and by morning it looked like a plaque of locusts had been through the shop. The shelves were almost bare.
Lu estimates that hundreds of people used the toilet and he also let people use his staff room to cook food.
“I was able to help people who really needed it. I was happy to help.”
Jim Flewitt says there are lessons to be learned and the East Rodney Community Group Cluster would meet on February 16 for a debrief.
“It was interesting that up until now, we have always thought we would be helping locals in a disaster.
But on this occasion, it was a transit community. We hadn’t considered that scenario.
“We can see we need to re-look at our contact lists, and it was disappointing not to have better communication from central Auckland.
“At a time like this though, when everyone is scrambling to respond, it’s only natural that someone will miss a pass.”
Wellsford rallies in flood response
Once again, it was local residents and volunteers who took it upon themselves to help the hundreds of motorists stranded in Wellsford when all roads were blocked by flooding and slips.
With no civil defence team in place or advice forthcoming, businesses and residents in the town opened their doors to help, providing food, drink and a place to stay.
Former Wellsford resident Riana Waenga saw what was happening on local social media pages and, with friend Shar Mihinnick, got the wheels in motion to open up Wellsford Community Centre. As organisers of the town’s Friday night markets, they called hall coordinator Lisa Hampe to get the venue opened for those in need.
“I couldn’t get through myself but I had all my crew who knew the codes and PINs to get in, and Lisa said of course, go ahead,” Waenga said.
Mihinnick was soon on the scene, where cars were already camped in the carpark, welcoming dozens of families and individuals who were stuck. Meanwhile, a steady stream of locals turned up, offering mattresses, meals, equipment and practical help.
“There were around 250 people in that night. I was making phone calls while Shar was on the ground organising people,” Waenga said.
Other Wellsford venues staying open and giving the stranded a place to sleep included Wellsford RSA and Junction – Mr Chef bar and restaurant, and many people also parked up and stayed in their cars.
After staying awake all night, the community centre crew were on deck all day Saturday as well, cooking breakfast for people, providing food and support for anyone who needed it, and then laying on a dinner that night for local volunteers, first responders and road workers.
The core team of Mihinnick, Jolene Mckewen, Justine and Lee Peters, Joseph Kapea, Deejay Korewha, Lisa Te Haara and Ant Searle was backed up by a roster of locals dropping in to help out, including MP Marja Lubeck and her team, who helped with breakfast.
“The last family came in at 4.30am and we worked 27 hours straight,” Mihinnick said. “It was pretty hectic.”
Local businesses chipped in to donate food and equipment, including Four Square, Gold Coin and New World Mangawhai, and the Red Cross came in to keep the centre open when more bad weather was forecast the following Monday.
Waenga said afterwards while she was stoked at the response and how the community had handled the sudden influx, there was a need for better emergency coordination and communication in future.
“We know our community and our community knows us – we don’t mind not having strangers around,” she said. “But we could have training in what we’re doing and when we’re doing it, and making sure everyone is safe.
“It was a massive wake-up call and a kick in the backside – we learned so much as people and as a community, and most of that was positive.”
Puhoi bears brunt of storm with worst floods in living memory
The name Puhoi translates as ‘slow water’. However, there was nothing remotely slow about how quickly the river rose and inundated the heart of the historic community that bore the brunt of the floods on Friday, January 27.
Heavy rain throughout the day meant that locals were keeping a close eye on the river, as it does tend to breach its banks every few years, but the pace and extent of the floodwaters this time took everyone by surprise.
When Ivan King of Saleyards Road left town for Orewa at around 4pm, the waters were approaching the road through town. By the time he came back 45 minutes later, he was stranded near the Centennial Hall by a lagoon of muddy water too deep to drive through and still rising fast.
For more than 350 metres, from the hall through to beyond the rotunda, silty water swamped the main road, the town library, the general store and Puhoi River Motors, and filled the Puhoi Pub garden almost up to the doors.
At its peak, the waters were over the library door and halfway up the windows and doors of the shop, ruining everything in its path, not least the home and livelihood of Puhoi General Store owners Nic Lodewyks and Jo Lloyd.
Across the river, the carpark, tennis courts and playing fields resembled an inland sea, with coffee-coloured water submerging the sports and community club halfway up to the veranda, and ruining everything on the ground floor.
And right up the Puhoi Valley, the river became a torrent, with trees, garden furniture, forestry slash and even show jumps getting swept up, snagged in trees or carried way out to sea at Wenderholm.
Local fire chief Russell Green pretty much lost his whole business, as Puhoi River Motors went underwater for the first time in its history.
“I’ve been here 25 years and seen plenty of floods, but this was the worst,” he said. “I had an engineer tell me when we put the building in it was high enough to cope with a 100-year flood, but it went over that.
“It’s a total loss. The building’s still okay, but everything inside is damaged and probably written off.”
It was a similar story at the General Store, where thigh-high water wrecked stock, equipment, fixtures and fittings in the shop, as well as the adjoining family home. The flood filled mailboxes with mud and uprooted a large shipping container used for storage – only the metal railings on a pedestrian bridge opposite Krippner Road stopped it from disappearing entirely down-river.
In the library, everything was destroyed except for items on the very top shelf – the worst flood by far since a similar onslaught almost a century earlier, which caused it to close its doors in 2024.
However, the community has rallied magnificently since, with local residents and contractors rescuing people and vehicles, clearing slips and hauling away debris from deluged buildings.
“We were extremely lucky, I don’t think I’ve seen the community rally round like they did on the Saturday morning after,” Green said afterwards. “Every community has it, people get together to help, but I’d have to say it was pretty impressive here.”
The community was also quick to help those worst affected, Nic and Jo at the General Store, who lost virtually everything. Friend Sarita McLean set up a Givealittle page that, as Mahurangi Matters went to press last week had raised more than $22,000. Anyone wishing to donate should go to https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/help-puhoi-store
St John thanks caring Warkworth community
Te Whatu Ora has praised the kindness of the Warkworth community for coming to the aid of a patient transport shuttle stranded between floodwaters and landslips on January 27.
The shuttle’s driver, Jeanette Schurgers, and nine passengers, who had attended specialist healthcare appointments in Auckland, were returning to Whangārei in the late afternoon when the roads to the north and south became blocked by floodwaters, landslips and fallen trees.
They found themselves stranded in Warkworth, where the community came to their aid.
Hato Hone St John welcomed them into their station, offered hot drinks and then phoned around their networks to find somewhere for Schurgers and the passengers to stay.
They were offered stretchers and mattresses from the local scout den and other people offered blankets but, in the end, they didn’t need to use them because Warkworth Hospital, an aged care facility, invited them in for the night as they had some spare beds and reclining La-Z-Boy chairs.
Transport and accommodation manager Calvin de Boer praised the Warkworth community for their assistance and hospitality “for which we are
extremely grateful”.
“And, our driver Jeanette also went above and beyond the call of duty, even staying up overnight to ensure our shuttle’s passengers were okay.”
On the Saturday morning, de Boer travelled to Warkworth with another shuttle driver so that Jeannette did not need to drive back up to Whangārei Hospital having had only a couple of hours of sleep.
“Once Dome Valley reopened after the slips had been cleared, we were able to get through. We arrived around 10am and the passengers were very quick to share their praise for Jeanette. As her manager, it certainly makes me proud.”
Calvin said that in the 19 years that the patient transport shuttle had run, an event like this had never happened – “99.99 percent of the time, the trips go really smoothly.”
The service operates every weekday, departing from Whangārei Hospital at 7am and leaving Auckland at 3pm for the return home. The service is available free of charge to anyone needing to attend a healthcare appointment in Auckland.
Most passengers are people travelling for radiotherapy sessions and other specialist hospital and health care appointments that are not available in Whangārei.
Buildings assessed
Auckland Council is continuing to carry out building assessments across Tāmaki Makaurau to determine whether a building is safe to occupy and whether it poses a safety risk to others.
As Mahurangi Matters went to press, there were four buildings red-stickered in Puhoi and six buildings yellow-stickered in Puhoi and Upper Waiwera.
A red sticker indicates a building cannot be used and entry is prohibited because it has sustained moderate or heavy damage and poses a significant risk to health or life.
This could be from the building itself, from external factors such as adjacent buildings, or from ground failure.
A yellow indicates a building may have sustained moderate damage and access is restricted.
This generally means either some identified areas of the building pose a significant hazard and cannot be used, or that the public cannot enter except under supervision for a limited time on essential business.
This could include emergency or assessment purposes, for example, or removing critical business records, valuables and property.
More information is available here: https://www.building.govt.nz/managing-buildings/managing-buildings-in-an-emergency/auckland-floods-2023/
Flood victims say thanks
The Warkworth Community Response Group received social media posts from two people who were caught up in the January floods, which they have passed on so all the volunteers can see their efforts were appreciated:
“As a commuter travelling to Auckland to attend the Elton John concert, who got waylaid at Puhoi for four hours and then diverted back to Warkworth to spend the night unable to move forward or back home to Whangarei … I want to say a very big thank you to the community of Warkworth for your kindness, your generosity, your donations of foods, toiletries, places to stay for families, showers etc, your time and effort to keep myself and the other displaced people safe, fed and warm.
“Special thank you to the organisers and leaders of Warkworth CRG (Community Resilience Group) and Helping Hands, who I know didn’t get much, if any, sleep all night because they were organising, rallying, making phone calls to civil defence and Red Cross, making sure that when we woke up in the morning we had food, toiletries, and a plan of action.
“You guys were absolutely incredible, and I am indeed in awe of you!
“…and to the Warkworth RSA and to the Warkworth community hall – thank you, thank you thank you so much for opening up your premises for us and to the volunteers who made tea and coffee, who made sure we had food, who offered to take us home for a shower. Your kindness, and your dedication to making our visit to your beautiful town as painless as possible has blown us away! Warkworth Rocks!”
“Hats off, high 5’s to tireless workers who took care of those us who were caught in this weekend’s deluge. We were in the traffic between Whangarei/Auckland that came to a grinding halt. Thank you, of course, to road workers clearing debris, police and emergency services. A personal acknowledgement and thanks to the two women at BP Warkworth, who were literally running serving the influx of so many people with food and drink until the pies ran out. Thank you to the Asian food store vendors who opened up late, found goji berries there and allowed people the use of their toilet. The local lady who kept us informed of road closures as news came to hand and was still on the job when we woke in the morning, directed us to safe places to park up for the night and, in conjunction, with the Warkworth RSA, provided those stranded with breakfast and hot tea/coffee, water and for those who needed it, a dry warm room, pillows, blankets to sleep the night, a toilet and power to recharge mobile phones. Saturday morning the Warkworth RSA bar opened up and bar and kitchen staff provided biscuits, hot drinks throughout the day, bacon, sausages, bread for brunch, power points also, toilets and a book too, while we waited for news of roads opening. The NZ Army based at RSA had disposable nappies for the wee ones. ‘Lest We Forget’. We were so well taken care of. Thank you so much.”
