Cyclone Gabrielle: Piha residents fear more flooding, slips with drains still blocked

By Finn Blackwell, RNZ

Residents in the coastal settlement of Piha are pleading for Auckland Council to act quickly in restoring critical infrastructure throughout the town.

Twenty-one houses in Piha have been yellow-stickered and 33 have been marked red in the wake of damage from Cyclone Gabrielle.

Slips still line the roads and access is restricted to residents only.

Rayner Rd resident Steven Morrison had a large slip behind his house, bringing down a pōhutukawa tree, which he said had stood there for 1000 years.

On the night of the cyclone, he was building makeshift drainage to stop rising floodwaters from flowing onto his property.

“Coming down off the road, we just had sheets of water that were knee-deep [on the street] above my house.”

The drains lining the road were still blocked, and further rain, forecast for Friday, could push the street over the edge, Morrison said.

“I don’t know whether any of the roads can take more than 10mm of rain ... at the very least, please, cover all the slips with canvases, put burrs on,” he asked of the council.

People who had lived on the street for decades were being forced to cart out their possessions by hand after having their homes red-stickered from damage, Morrison said.

Steven Morrison urged the council to also cover slips to avoid further damage. Photo: RNZ / Finn Blackwell

While the first responders and community had done incredible work, their energy was running low and immediate help was needed, he said.

He believed it was neglect and negligence from the council that had led to such widespread damage.

It was his belief council maintained an East Coast Auckland mindset, whereas out west, he said the situation needed to be assessed valley by valley.

Roads in and out of Piha are still under repair. Beaches across Auckland’s west coast remain closed to the public.

Auckland Emergency Management said a fresh supply of food and water pallets had been delivered to the community via emergency services.

Morrison urged Auckland Council to do whatever they could to clear the drains of debris, for fear of more flooding to come.

“It’s about a timely response, and working out a critical pathway to a good result, time is of the essence,” he said.

Auckland Council said in a statement Rayner Rd had been closed due to land instability and heavy machinery had been unable to be moved to the site to clear the damage.

The council had been concentrating efforts wherever access is able to be made, particularly the lower end of Piha where substantial flooding has occurred with houses severely inundated, the statement said.

Auckland Council and Auckland Emergency Management had been working to find a solution that cleared the road as soon as possible while keeping safety front of mind.

Auckland Emergency Management was also approached for comment.

Piha RSA president Blair Strang echoed Morrison’s calls for urgency.

Strang had been helping residents during the storm last week before being told his own house had to be evacuated and red-stickered.

“We ended up hosting about 35 people, 14 families were displaced, it was carnage,” Strang said.

Piha was hit hard by Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi

He described a biblical amount of water flowing down his driveway like a hydro-dam opening up.

Strang said the recovery needed to get underway, and quickly.

“With this fine weather, now is the time to try unblock the silt-ed-up drains and the stormwater system so that houses like mine, which survived the cyclone, don’t get accidentally flooded,” he said.

More slips caused by drain build-up were another concern for Strang.

He said he had been calling and emailing the council for a response, but he had yet to hear back from anyone.

In the meantime, he was staying in a friend’s garage in Piha, urging those in charge to help where it was needed most.

Strang said Piha was their spiritual place, and he would only want to leave as a last resort.

“We’re not worried about that at the moment, we’re just taking it one day at a time.”