Auckland flooding: The longer road ahead to get region back to 'normal'

Sunday, 29 January 2023

Families gather at the Wesley Primary School’s displacement shelter following Friday night’s storm across Auckland.

Commuters will face new challenges in Auckland from the start of the working week on Tuesday, as repair work continues following the weekend deluges.

The city’s impaired sewerage system is one piece of essential infrastructure in trouble, with four crippled pumping stations expected to be out for a week, causing wastewater spills into the harbour.

The council company Watercare said four of ten pumping stations had been flooded, damaging machinery and electronic control systems, some of which are irreparable.

“We have engaged a contractor that specialises in drying out pumps and control panels but not all the equipment could be saved,” said the chief operations officer Mark Bourne.

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Watercare may not be able to repair a water main lost in a slip at Titirangi on the Scenic Drive.

Two new pumps found outside Auckland late on Sunday, may accelerate those repairs.

Water supplies have been restored to most but not all of the affected areas,

, to get around a section of water main, swept away in a slip on Scenic Drive near Titirangi.

The already-disrupted rail network has been further hit with slips or subsidence in 15 places, including New Lynn, on the only one of four rail lines that had been operating normally before the Anniversary Day long weekend.

It is a recurrence of subsidence in the same area in October 2022, and will require trains to travel more slowly on the Western Line beyond New Lynn, with special bus services being added to share the load.

“It is likely that there will be some impact on commuter services on Tuesday and for the rest of the week,” said Jon Knight, KiwiRail’s Metro General Manager.

Bus services are back to normal, but the impact of a driver shortage could worsen this week. (File photo)

Subsidence repairs will also disrupt the Eastern Line, which is presently carrying all southbound services during a scheduled maintenance shutdown on part of the Southern Line.

KiwiRail said maintenance crews initially due to have spent the weekend on planned upgrades during a scheduled full network closure, had diverted to flood work.

While Auckland’s bus network has recovered from direct flood disruption, it faces a possible double-whammy from Tuesday when the return of school services, adds load to an already struggling system.

International flights resumed after a 36-hour pause, but a backlog could take time to clear. (File photo)

The commuter bus network was 600 drivers down in mid-January due to a staff shortage, with 1600 services failing to run on January 16, even after the permanent removal of 1000 services a day.

Auckland Transport said flood disruption had affected the availability of some rostered drivers on Sunday, and it was watching to see whether that difficulty continued.

School bus services provided by AT will resume progressively as individual schools start term one, adding 499 services daily once fully on-stream.

A “small number” of Auckland schools have suffered significant damage, but the Ministry of Education won’t name them, and expects to have a more comprehensive picture by late Monday ahead of the start of the school week on Tuesday.

Auckland Airport suffered significant flooding and closed to international flights for 36 hours and was not yet able to tell Stuff what was still to be done, as it focussed on the welfare of stranded passengers.

The airport said it spent Sunday providing blankets and meals to up to 1000 passengers in the international terminal, where the first flights in and out resumed on Sunday morning.

“Some airport processes may take longer than normal as we restart international travel,” said Carrie Hurihanganui, the airport chief executive.

“It may also take airlines several days to rebook passengers,” she said in a statement.

Auckland Transport said crews were working their way through a list of 41 partially or fully closed roads.

NZ Post will on Tuesday, after the Anniversary Day holiday, resume deliveries in Auckland, which it suspended when the state of emergency was declared on Friday night.

“In areas where there is safe access, by Tuesday we expect deliveries to return to normal, including items that were due for delivery on Saturday,” said a spokesperson.