A Civil Defence centre has been set up in Auckland overnight after intense thunderstorms sparked “significant flooding” across the city.
Video / NZ Herald
Authorites have promised action but two years on from the Auckland Anniversary storms, home and business owners say they still live in fear of the damage the next heavy rain could bring.
One Mt Roskill business owner stood alone in the dark overnight desperately trying to keep a creek clear of debris after jumbo bins and pallets floated down it last time round.
Dozens of homes were flooded after 110mm of rain, with known risk areas hit hardest.
Harish Lodhia’s son stood alone in the dark last night in a desperate one-on-one battle with the creek below the family’s Auckland industrial property.
Two years ago, the creek behind their Stoddard Rd property in Mt Roskill overflowed in the Auckland Anniversary weekend storms after becoming jammed with debris.
Large “jumbo bins” floated on its rushing waters, while parked cars and nearby shops were left with major flood damage.
Desperate to avert another round of flooding, Lodhia’s son armed himself with a grappling hook and waged a midnight to 3am battle trying to pull any large debris clear from the culvert in the creek.
Despite his determined efforts, the creek still won.
Pallets, gas bottles and branches could all be seen blocking the creek’s flow this morning as those people with nearby shops were busy cleaning up minor flood damage from the overflow waters.
Lodhia, who owns the property and leases it to various store holders, said silt had built up in the creek, causing it to become shallower over time.
That and its narrow nature meant it was a natural choke point for debris to jam and cause the water to overflow.
“We actually begged them many, many times to please look at this problem,” he said about his discussions with politicians and Auckland councillors.
Harish Lodhia speaks with Mohamed Abdul Kadir and Fadumo Ahmed, whose non-profit group The Ethnic Women's Trust lease out his Mt Roskill property on Stoddard Rd. Photo / Dean Purcell
The creek and blocked culvert below Harish Lodhia's property in Mt Roskill. Photo / Dean Purcell
And Lodhia isn’t alone in calling for faster action.
Dozens of Aucklanders had their homes hit by flooding overnight as 110mm of rain dumped in an intense few hours of thunderstorms that left authorities scrambling to respond to 175 callouts.
Many of those hit hardest were in known flood-risk areas where projects to fix or mitigate the risks have been promised but not fully acted on.
Benjamin Chevre from Mt Albert’s Little French Cafe believed his store was among them.
He was also up in the early hours desperately trying to lift equipment to higher ground and stem flooding in his store that reached about 8cm high.
When the Herald caught up with him this morning, his team were mopping the floor and trying to get everything back in shape.
Having had their fridge and some other equipment damaged, they were closed today but aiming to reopen tomorrow.
Chevre praised the support from his customers, with one even offering to come in and help while the Herald was interviewing him.
Benjamin Chevre and his team at the Little French Cafe in Mt Albert were in clean-up mode after the storm. Photo / Dean Purcell
But he said what he really wanted was help from Auckland Council.
Last night was the third time in as many years his store had been hit after it received major damage in 2023 and had to shut down for more than six months.
Chevre said his shop and the New World supermarket next door, which also closed today because of flooding, were in a natural flow-path for rainwater.
He said council had promised to tackle the problem five years earlier by upgrading the nearby wastewater pipes but was yet to complete the project.
“If drainage is not made properly like council told us then,” it could happen again at any time, Chevre said.
“It could have gone really wrong last night if it rained more,” he said.
Public housing tenant Chrissy's home on Denny Ave was almost flooded again overnight. Photo / Dean Purcell
Mt Roskill state housing resident Chrissy also suffered during the storms two years ago after floodwaters swamped her Denny Ave home.
She lost most of her personal possessions in the storm and spent months in emergency housing before her Kāinga Ora home was refurbished and she was able to move back in about a year ago.
Last night her heart skipped a beat when she was woken by flashing sirens in the early hours of the morning.
When she looked outside, the floodwaters were right up to the top step of her stairs, about 40cm-50cm high.
Another 5cm higher and she would have been flooded again.
Her daughter’s car looked like it could have suffered significant flood damage.
The marks on Chrissy's daughter's car show how high the floodwaters reached overnight. Photo / Dean Purcell
Her neighbours also experienced near misses, with one across the road saying he now gets scared every time it rains.
With residents in other known risk areas having been moved out of their homes in the billion-dollar buyout scheme, questions were being asked about why Denny Ave residents should be forced to wait inside houses that now increasingly look like they’ll be flooded again.
National MP for Mt Roskill, Carlos Cheung, was among those checking on Denny Ave residents this morning.
He said he’d be speaking to Auckland Council in the next week and month about what steps were being done to protect the neighbourhood’s residents.
“They deserve to have a safe place to stay,” Cheung said.
National MP for Mt Roskill Carlos Cheung was out checking on the welfare of residents and business owners in his electorate. Photo / Dean Purcell
Cheung and the council’s Puketāpapa Local Board chairwoman Ella Kumar both also stopped by to check on Lodhia’s industrial premises on Stoddard Rd.
Lodhia told them he wanted faster action for his property and its tenants, which included the Ethnic Women’s Trust community group.
The non-profit group has spent 20 years helping new refugees and migrants fit into New Zealand life by giving them friendship and support, as well as qualifications in sewing they can use to get factory jobs or to make their own clothes to sell in shops or flea markets.
The group runs sewing classes from Lodhia’s property and suffered tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of damage in the Auckland Anniversary storm.
That included the loss of their sewing machines, most of their fabric and about $12,000 of foodbank food for community members.
The trust had worked hard with community support to buy new professional machines, only to once again become fearful of losing it all last night.
Fortunately, the group’s machines seemed okay, but there had been damage to new carpets and fabrics.
“It’s not a safe place,” chairwoman Fadumo Ahmed said.
“We rebuilt after two years and now we’re scared it will happen again.”
Lodhia said he and his tenants were “very nervous” of what the next storm would bring.
“They have to sort this creek out, it needs to be excavated,” he said.
Tom Mansell, head of sustainable partnerships for Auckland Council’s stormwater division Healthy Waters, said crews were out proactively checking and clearing hotspots in the Mt Roskill area as soon as they became aware bad weather was approaching.
“From midnight to 3am on Saturday morning, Auckland’s thunderstorm delivered a high volume of water with incredible intensity over a short period of time in Mt Roskill – resulting in 90mm of rain in one hour," Mansell said.
“Our stormwater infrastructure has a limited capacity to how much water it can process – and this event far exceeded that."
He said Mt Roskill received another 25-30mm on Saturday within a 15-minute period, “which again triggered a massive response”.
“Multiple crews have been working in shifts across the central Auckland area since Friday, checking again and clearing stormwater assets like grills.”
The council has responded to 80 callouts in Mt Albert, Mt Roskill, Mt Eden and Hillsborough, Mansell said.
“In the long term, we’re working to establish new green spaces that will increase Mt Roskill’s resilience to flooding, as part of the Making Space for Water programme.
“This involves creating blue-green networks in key locations where there have been Category 3 property buyouts (170 homes in the Mt Roskill area have been assessed). More parks will give stormwater space to flow and divert water away from properties.
“We have completed Stage 1 and planning is under way for Stage 2 – upgrading culverts, widening channels and upgrading pipelines to improve stormwater flow and reduce flooding."
