The inquest will examine 18 weather-related deaths from the early 2023 floods. Photo / Ben Cowper
The inquest will examine 18 weather-related deaths from the early 2023 floods. Photo / Ben Cowper
By Lucy Xia of RNZ
The timeliness and effectiveness of weather warnings and the emergency response to the Auckland Anniversary floods and Cyclone Gabrielle will come under scrutiny in a coroner’s inquest that gets under way in Auckland on Monday.
The inquest will look into the 18 weather-related fatalities inthe Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle in early 2023, including three men who died in the months following the weather events.
The hearings are set down for about six weeks – with phase one taking place in Auckland between late June and August, and phase two in Hastings between October and November.
The Auckland part of the inquest will focus on the deaths of the four men who died during the Auckland Anniversary floods and the two firefighters who died in Muriwai during Cyclone Gabrielle.
Daniel Miller, 34, was helping rescue others in the severely flooded Wairau Valley in Auckland’s North Shore and was later found dead in a culvert on Target Road.
Daniel Newth, 25, was swept into the Wairau Valley while kayaking in floodwaters.
David Lennard, 78, died after his Remuera home was destroyed in a landslide.
Dave Young, 58, was swept away in floodwaters in the rural Waikato town of Onewhero.
Two volunteer Muriwai firefighters, Craig Stevens and Dave van Zwanenberg, died in a landslide two weeks following the floods - during Cyclone Gabrielle – after they were critically injured when attending a major slip call-out.
A ruling by Coroner Erin Woolley on the scope of the inquest said she would be examining what warnings were issued to the public about the dangers of the floodwaters at the time and whether they were timely, complete and adequate.
Coroner Erin Woolley will inquire into whether the emergency response in Auckland was adequate and well-co-ordinated.
She said she would look into important issues raised by Young’s family – which involves the messaging for people living in areas near the border between different local authorities or Civil Defence Emergency Management groups, and the availability of search and rescue resources on the ground.
Woolley will also investigate whether the emergency response in Auckland was adequate and well-co-ordinated.
The authorities’ knowledge of the risks of landslides at Shore Road in Remuera and Muriwai before the weather events will also be examined. Woolley said she will be asking whether any parties should have taken action to address those risks.
Woolley acknowledged that both Fire and Emergency New Zealand and WorkSafe had completed investigations on the circumstances around the deaths of Van Zwanenberg and Stevens; however, she said both investigations were limited in the evidence from witnesses.
She added that she would look into whether it was appropriate for emergency responders to be doing work in areas at risk of landslides during Cyclone Gabrielle.
