Brooke van Velden: We need to be better prepared when disaster strikes

OPINION:

Two weeks ago, Aucklanders were feeling a bit cheated. For those of us who’d stayed at home for the holiday, the sunblock remained untouched in the cupboard. The New Year’s resolution to eat healthier and exercise went out the window when rain, wind, and more rain threatened to come in. Some summer.

We didn’t think it could get off to a worse start.

Then the flood hit.

I spent the next few days in the community checking on locals to make sure they had the support they needed.

Among the spilled rubbish, sodden furniture, and water lines higher than kids’ heads, I saw communities pull together.

I joined the Waitākere Indian Association to deliver warm dinners to families with no power or working kitchens. While handing over meals I heard incredible stories of community strength.

I met a man who broke his back in the flood. His own insurance broker hired a truck and was pulling down destroyed weatherboards to give him a hand.

A woman in her 90s had generously given up her own bed and was sleeping on the couch, to provide safety and comfort to her neighbour who’d lost everything.

I saw young kids filling up trailers, heard about colleagues bringing around clean clothes, and was even offered a beer by one family for popping by.

We’ve seen the worst of nature and the best of Kiwi spirit.

ACT deputy leader Brooke Van Velden comforts a flood victim on Clover Drive, Henderson. Photo / Hayden Woodward

Kiwis got stuck in and did what was needed.

But where was the plan or preparation for a disaster?

People stuck in the floods found there was next to no preparation, no plan. Emergency services were overwhelmed. Most of the heat has gone on to Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown for his what-not-to-do performances, but that has let too many others off the hook.

Particularly central Government’s Civil Defence response which has been non-existent to most Aucklanders.

Where was the early warning? Fire and Emergency realised there was a problem based on the spike in calls hours before a state of emergency was called.

Central Government’s main contribution has been telling people what not to do. Parents complained of “lockdown PTSD” when they found out, Monday night, that there would be no school on Tuesday. Some schools could not open, but why should unaffected schools have shut? If it was to save the roads, why was education the Government’s lowest priority? The weight placed on education today is the number one indicator of where any country will get to in 30 years.

Most people’s attention is shifting from recovery to “never again”. People will rush to blame “climate change”, and it’s a factor. But it is also too simple and too easy.

There needs to be a more thoughtful analysis. The Herald’s Jamie Morton laid out the extraordinary factors including La Nina and unusually warm seas that really did create a “perfect storm”. Climate change is a contributor, rather than the whole story.

What’s more, blaming climate change does not explain what to do next. Reducing New Zealand Emissions will not change the climate by itself. At best, New Zealand can set a good example by reducing emissions without destroying living standards, something Act says New Zealand could do a lot better at.

If climate change is going to bring more rain and New Zealand can’t stop it, then we need to think about adaptation. Especially infrastructure.

Nearly every badly flooded property had reports of previous stormwater failures. In one case, engineers came to inspect the drains, only to find them filled with gravel. To the council’s credit, they were cleared on a Monday, and there was almost no flooding when heavy rains fell again on Tuesday night.

In other cases, a row of homes was flooded because the stormwater system burst. Residents in Epsom saw a concrete lid lifted up by water pressure. The stormwater system is supposed to take water away from houses, but for these unfortunate households, it carried metre-deep water straight to them. They’d been complaining to the Council about manholes getting blown off in their street.

Residents in that street complained of intensification. More roofs and gutters collect more water running off onto less grass.

Flooding in the Auckland suburb of Epsom. Photo / Michael Wood

This is not an argument against intensification. Tokyo is far more densely populated than suburban Auckland, and they manage.

It is an argument against the kind of unplanned, unresourced intensification that has been pushed through Parliament lately. Allowing three three-storey townhouses on any section without conditions is a recipe for more disasters. Councils should be able to halt such plans where they are not confident they can provide the infrastructure.

Council planners may need to get creative. Grey-water holding tanks can help hold back the flow of water off a roof, so the stormwater system does not suffer large spikes. Perhaps Aucklanders should get a discount on their water bill if they install one?

Having faced a plague, food shortages and now a flood, these past few months have felt a bit biblical. What’s next, a locust strike? Whatever it is, individuals will be there to support each other, to offer a hand and maybe even a beer.

Brooke van Velden, MP, is the deputy leader of the Act Party.