Auckland floods: North Shore community calling for those in need to collect donated supplies

An Auckland community on the North Shore has rallied together to gather supplies after the deadly deluge and is calling for those in need to come forward.

The Milford Residents Association and the Milford Senior Citizens group put out a call to the community for donations and have been overwhelmed by the response.

“It’s just been incredible, absolutely incredible,” said organiser Norma Bott.

“The human kindness of people is just amazing.”

People have donated food, towels, blankets, duvets, food, clothes for babies through to adults, toys, baby products and cleaning supplies.

“We have a stage full of linen and pillows, a few trestle tables overloaded with towels and blankets... people are just going and buying the stuff and bringing it in so that they can, you know, contribute,” said Bott.

Find full coverage of the Auckland Floods here.

Donated supplies include bedding, towels, food and baby clothes. Photo / Supplied

With all the supplies collected, Bott said they now just need people to come and get them.

“We need people that need this stuff to now contact us so that we can distribute it.

“Just come, if they need stuff, just come, they won’t be turned away.

“We’ve got children’s clothes, somebody just dropped off a porta-cot and a highchair, all those sorts of things that a family really need somewhere but we don’t know where that family is so we’d rather that they came in and collected what they needed.”

A team of volunteers are working from the Milford Senior Citizens Hall, which is directly across from the Milford Mall and behind New World in the public car park, sorting through all the supplies and are ready to welcome those who need them.

Bott said people are able to just pop in to the hall or are able to get in contact with the group to organise a delivery by emailing chairs@milford.org.nz.

She said Milford, like many other Auckland communities, took a massive hit after Friday’s unprecedented weather event.

In particular, the area of Milford closer to Forrest Hill was hit quite bad and flooding was up to home’s windowsills, Bott said.

“We’ve got the Milford estuary, or the Milford creek, and that virtually just sort of burst its banks and the water went everywhere, sideways rather than down-ways.”

Those in need can go to the Milford Senior Citizens Hall to collect supplies. Photo / Supplied

This comes as the top of the North Island prepares to be hit by the same weather system which resulted in Friday’s weather event.

MetService has issued a number of watches and warnings for Northland, Auckland, Coromandel, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Gisborne.

The agency released satellite imagery showing the deepening low moving towards New Zealand, saying “here it comes”.

It will be a mixed bag of weather with heavy rain, flooding, thunderstorms, strong winds and monster swells which are expected to rise to 4m.

“It’s the same system that brought the wet weather before [on Friday]. It’s moving back across us as we go through the day and has moved in from the north and west. Places like Northland will see that rainfall first and as we go through the day it [moves] towards parts of Auckland and the Coromandel,” said MetService meteorologist John Law.