Blocked drains cause supermarket flood

The Auckland City Council is under fire after neglected storm water drains flooded a supermarket.

Water started gushing into the Supervalue Supermarket in Otahuhu around ten o'clock yesterday morning and did not stop until around 5 pm.

Store owner Deep Giarn says staff spent the day frantically moving stock and trying to clear the water. He and two others tried to clear the council drains by hand.

"They had roots through them, broken drain pieces, logs in them....we found everything you could imagine (including) around 20 or 30 glass bottles."

Mr Giarn says they are lucky most of the stock is stored on pallets, so was about 15 centimetres off the ground.

He is angry at the Auckland City Council saying if it had properly cared for the drains they would not have flooded his shop.

- NEWSTALK ZB