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A series of landslips have occurred below several properties in St Mary’s Bay, one of Auckland’s most wealthy areas, as flood repairs continue.
Photos show a property on Ring Terrace where the soil foundations below the property have fallen away, exposing the property’s palisade walls keeping the property in place.
Though dramatic in appearance, the landslides haven’t concerned resident Sue Tierney, who told the Herald that she’s seen the landslides and feels relaxed about the properties involved.
“The soil has slipped and exposed the walls, the fact it’s exposed them proves it’s doing a good job,” she said.
The property’s palisade walls keeping the property in place are exposed by the soil slip. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Tierney has been working from her St Mary’s Bay home despite the numerous landslips, holding the belief that her house’s foundation of bedrock and pohutukawa should be sturdy enough.
She said she knows the owners of the property in question, who have lived in the house for three decades.
St Mary's Bay resident Karl Browne with a slip on his property that opened up after heavy rains caused flooding and damage throughout Auckland. Photo / RNZ
St Mary’s Bay residents are blaming the council for massive slips that left some homes hanging precariously over the northern motorway approach to the Auckland Harbour Bridge.
They say blocked drains and a poorly designed stormwater system meant torrents of water poured between homes in the dress-circle suburb, undermining the cliff face.
Karl Browne’s two-storey home on London St was built in 1908 and commands fabulous views of the Hauraki Gulf - views that this week came closer and closer.
The aftermath of Friday’s storm was “absolute carnage”, he said.
“We’ve got four properties in a row affected. I’ve probably lost 70 square metres of my property, the neighbour’s lost maybe 100 to 120 square metres of their property.
The slip on Karl Browne's neighbour's property. Photo / RNZ
“It’s still slumping. Every day I’m taking measurements of these big cracks that are coming out and how far down they come.
“Don’t get too close to the edge because it’s more or less Cave Creek,” Browne said, heading towards his neighbour’s property. “There’s the remains of pohutukawa trees down the bottom there. They’ve been here for absolutely donkey’s years, they’re not small trees.
“You’ll see the house is precipitously hanging on the edge and the neighbour’s deck is supported by one pile. I wouldn’t even want to stand out there.”
Browne was pretty certain what the problem was.
“Essentially what actually happened is that the overflow from the road was diverted down through the properties because the drains were blocked. The design of the drains is insufficient to cope with it.
“The fall of the road channels the water down between the properties. It’s come down here and it’s just hydrauliced the cliff face completely out and pushed fences, gardens, retaining walls, everything down to the bottom of the cliff.
“I’ve been talking to the council about this for two-and-a-half years now.”
Browne said a recent $40 million investment in new stormwater infrastructure in the neighbourhood was not up to the job.
He was considering taking a class action against the council.
London St residents quizzing a Watercare services contractor about their stormwater issues, after flooding and landslips on the street following heavy rains and flooding across Auckland. Photo / RNZ
Christian Arns lives on the other side of the street, and he was not happy either.
The stormwater system was so overwhelmed that his garage and those of his neighbours were flooded, he said.
“The water came up through the wastewater because the wastewater was blocked and went back into our garage, so we had to cover the wastewater drainage off with lids because there was just fountains of water coming out.
“There’s a manhole in our driveway and it’s got a metal lid and that popped out and the amount of crap that came out of that hole was not pretty.”
Brent Hellier also had a stormwater lid pop in his driveway, but that was not his only issue.
“This drain on the street had a leaf trap underneath it with 5mm mesh and it just blocked up and flooded down our driveway.
“The issue is with all the leaves from the trees - it beautifies the neighbourhood - but nobody cleans it.
