Auckland floods: Who's who in the disaster response
Sunday, 29 January 2023
While Auckland’s mayor was being criticised for his handling of a devastating flood, his councillors were handing out supplies and tweeting essential information to thousands.
The floods have killed three people, cut power to thousands and knocked out essential infrastructure, including the international airport. More bad weather was expected in the region on Sunday.
The same faces have cropped up again and again during the response – and will continue to do so as a state of emergency is in place for a week.
Here’s who’s who.
**READ MORE:
* Countdown to Chaos: As Aucklanders were desperately seeking safety, officials were silent
* Flooded homes, streets awash, but hours until an emergency declaration
* Auckland floods: Despite weather warnings, size of record storm 'couldn't be predicted'
**
Wayne Brown
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown has been criticised for the perceived delay in declaring a state of emergency for the city amid the torrential rain on Friday night.
The state of emergency was declared at 9.27pm, but not publicly broadcast until 10.18pm.
By that stage, streets, shops and homes were underwater, Auckland Airport's international terminal was flooded, a man had been declared dead and two were missing.
Brown did not hold a press conference until 11.14pm, at which he said he had made the declaration as soon as he was given the go-ahead to do so.
“My role isn’t to rush out there with buckets, it’s to be here ensuring that the centre is well-organised and that we are taking appropriate steps at the appropriate time – not rushing into them in response to noise outside.”
Chris Hipkins
The new prime minister arrived in Auckland on Saturday afternoon aboard an Air Force Hercules and met with flood-affected families in the region’s west.
At a press conference, he said he would not get into “second guessing” what went into declaring a state of emergency in Auckland.
He would also not answer a question posed by a reporter about whether he had confidence in Auckland’s leadership.
Kieran McAnulty
The minister of emergency management also flew to Auckland on Saturday.
He appeared at the press conference alongside Brown, Hipkins and Transport Minister Michael Wood and said the government had given an initial payment of $100,000 to the mayoral relief fund.
McAnulty on Friday urged Aucklanders to follow the advice of their local authorities – despite little such advice being released.
On Saturday, McAnulty criticised the communications from local authorities around the situation, saying they needed to be “clearer and faster”.
“My expectation is at least every 30 minutes.”
Jo Bartley
Maungakiekie-Tāmaki Ward councillor Jo Bartley has been vocal in her criticism of the mayor, publicly calling for him to declare a state of emergency on Friday evening and saying “urgent action” needed to happen.
“This is terrible organisation for emergency management, so many families especially in Māngere scared and vulnerable wanting to know what to do and their families all scared trying to get to them themselves,” she wrote in a letter to the mayor that she later posted on Twitter.
Bartley has also been visible in the community following the floods, delivering supplies and coordinating contractors to clear slips and debris.
On Sunday, she said she was “not keen to criticise [the] mayor anymore”, saying she wanted to “focus on the clean up and helping families still in need”.
Richard Hills
North Shore councillor Richard Hills has also been active in the flood response, calling for the mayor to declare a state of emergency on Friday evening and tweeting updates throughout the weekend.
Among the tweets were road updates, advice on where people could go to get help and dispelling misinformation around water safety.
“Of course I should only be tweeting official information from Auckland Emergency Management channels. But they haven’t updated their social media in over three hours,” he wrote.
“I understand they’re inundated & dealing with the immediate crisis. But people need to know where to go tonight.”
Rachel Kelleher
Auckland Emergency Management deputy controller Rachel Kelleher said at this time of year, it was “not unusual” for Auckland to experience weather systems that “could potentially bring heavy rain” – however, the intensity of Friday’s storm was “unprecedented”.
Auckland Emergency Management took action as soon as it received intelligence the storm was escalating, setting up its Emergency Coordination Centre by 5pm Friday, she said.
The activation and response was “well under way” before a local state of emergency was declared by Brown, she said.