Project Auckland: Cyclone and flood deluge brings ‘a wake-up call’

Richard Hills. Photo / Supplied

Auckland Councillor Richard Hills says the recent Auckland floods and cyclone have been a big wake-up call for politicians and communities to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change.

Hills discount those who say climate change is already here and we should solely focus on adaptation.

“This is a one-degree world. If we add two or three degrees onto this, we will face catastrophe.”

The third-term councillor chairs Auckland Council’s planning, environment and parks committee.

He put an extraordinary item on the committee’s agenda in early February to commission work into the implications of the flooding on Auckland’s land use planning, regulatory, infrastructure and other policy settings.

“While we’re talking about a one in 200- or 250-year flooding event — or a half a per cent chance of this happening in any given year — we know from Te Tāruke-ā-Tāwhiri: Auckland’s Climate Plan that we need to adapt and be more resilient because this is going to happen more often,” says Hills.

“When I led that plan in 2020, it was considered 10-20 years away but unfortunately it is here now. We had a two-year drought followed by the wettest winter, wettest summer, wettest January, wettest day. As well as that, the last eight years have been eight of our hottest ever.”

The planning review will consider what measures were effective in preventing and mitigating the impact of the floods.

Hills says this is important to avoid knee-jerk decisions which tar all forms of intensification.

He points to the Te Ara Awataha greenway in Northcote as an exemplary development where underground pipes were resurfaced to follow the path of the original Awataha Stream. Sections of the stream were opened and replanted in a process called daylighting that rejuvenates buried urban streams.

“We could only do that because Eke Panuku, Healthy Waters and Kāinga Ora all worked together,” says Hills. “They demolished the homes in that area of Northcote so we could re-channel everything — and it didn’t flood. We don’t have that luxury in every community but it shows what happens when we do intensification well with the right infrastructure alongside it.”

Hobsonville and Stonefields fared well during the flood compared to some of the worst hit more established suburbs of Mt Eden and Mt Albert.

“Our biggest emissions come from transport, so it will be important to act there. But the flooding has raised questions about where any future rail or light rail to the North Shore would go,” says Hills.”

During the January 27 event, major sections of Auckland’s motorways were flooded or closed. On the Northern Motorway, people were trapped in cars that were floating along rising floodwaters.

“Is the busway the best place to put rail? Or is it better to be higher,” he questions. “We need to think about everything — not just because the infrastructure might flood, but also will people be living in low-lying areas in the future?

“If we think that people will ultimately move away from those areas, then we need to plan ahead for that.”

Crisis response

Hills was in the thick of it during the January 27 flooding. He used his social media channels to implore residents to stay out of floodwaters and check on their neighbours, share information about evacuation centres, and remind people to stay prepared by filling water bottles and charging their phones.

Hills is one of the most-followed councillors on social media. He spoke with Tātaki Auckland Unlimited early about cancelling the Elton John concert when it was obvious Auckland was facing a severe weather event. The promoters didn’t cancel the concert until shortly before the superstar was due to take to the stage at 7pm, stranding thousands of people at Mount Smart Stadium. Hills’ focus then turned to Auckland Transport, requesting they mobilise all available buses to get people home.

“It was all pretty chaotic and upsetting,” he says. “People were contacting me, ringing me, and sending social media messages. In that kind of chaos, people just need any information so if I could help that is what I was trying to do.”

Over the weekend that followed, it was obvious to Hills that flood-damaged property needed to be urgently dealt with.

“Council’s advice was that insurance needed to deal with rubbish, but if we waited on that then we would have a major health crisis. In some roads in Milford and Sunnynook, there were entire households worth of waste piled up on the berm. We were worried about more rain events coming and debris floating away.”

Hills organised the first public rubbish skips in concert with the local board.

In the days that followed, he took mayor Wayne Brown to the North Shore to see damaged houses before later meeting with Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, Auckland Minister Michael Wood and Auckland Central MP Chlöe Swarbrick.