What will the week ahead will look like for storm-hit areas?

Sunday, 29 January 2023

Heavy rain, flooding and slips have caused chaos in Auckland, areas of the Bay of Plenty and Waitomo.

At least 5000 Auckland properties are being assessed for flood or landslide damage and four people have died.

The floods have cut power to thousands and knocked out essential infrastructure, including the international airport.

But, emergency officials have warned the end is not in sight, with heavy rain forcast to continue on Monday. Here is what to expect in the next few days:

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State of emergency

Auckland Emergency Management on Sunday evening issued an emergency mobile alert notifying Aucklanders that MetService had issued an orange heavy rain warning, due to an “active line” of thunderstorms over the Hauraki Gulf.

“Between now and 7am (Monday), this line of thunderstorms could produce localised downpours of 50-90mm of rainfall,” the alert said.

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown declared a state of emergency in the Auckland region on Friday night.

The state of emergency will remain in place for seven days. Brown’s announcement came hours after torrential rain, flash flooding and mass evacuations.

Severe weather also affected the Waitomo District, with evacuations taking place on Saturday due to flooding.

Mayor John Robertson declared a state of emergency for the district Saturday evening – it will also be in place for a week.

Power and water

Hundreds of people remained without power or water in the Auckland region on Sunday.

Many homes were left without power, after Friday, but by 10am Sunday, Vector said 98% had been restored.

However, this meant about 700 households still didn’t have power. Three hundred of those households were on Kawau Island.

A further update would be provided on Monday.

As of midday Sunday, 422 houses were without power in South Waikato, Coromandel and Bay of Plenty regions.

Powerco said additional crews were reconnecting customers where possible, but Sunday’s weather conditions were making work hazardous in places, and some sites remained inaccessible due to road closures.

Later on Sunday evening, Powerco said ongoing wild weather across the North Island had caused “a number” of outages on Powerco’s electricity network over the weekend.

As of 5pm Sunday, there were 124 customers without power.

“Field crews have been out restoring power to customers as quickly and as safely as possible throughout the day. Those efforts have been hampered by ongoing wind, rain and lightning.

“Unfortunately, 25 Bay of Plenty customers will remain off overnight in the Te Puke and Wairoa areas with crews needing to wait for floodwaters to subside before equipment can be accessed.”

A Vector spokesperson said crews have worked continuously since Friday afternoon to restore power to customers across the Auckland region, and we’ve brought in other crews from outside the area to help with the recovery.

“Our crews are deploying a range of solutions to restore power quickly and safely, including using temporary pole installations, and supplying customers from other parts of the network. There will be many cases where we need to return later to make a more permanent repair,” the spokesperson said.

“We’re also watching the weather closely for further wind and rain over the next few days. Unfortunately, this may cause further power outages and impact restoration jobs still underway.”

Meanwhile, many residents in West Auckland remained without water on Sunday after a slip caused 30 metres of pipe to be washed away along Scenic Drive in Titirangi.

Watercare chief operations officer Mark Bourn said most households should have water restored on Sunday.

Road closures

Unprecedented rainfall in Auckland has had an “unusual and severe impact” on the road network.

Flooding and landslides have forced the closure of roads and highways across the region, with access between Auckland and Northland limited.

On Sunday, Auckland Transport said 39 roads were still closed across the region, with lanes closed on a further eight.

In a statement, they said while the number of roads closed would drop significantly in next few days, some roads would take longer to reopen due to scale of the slips and damage.

In the Coromandel, drivers have been told they will need to look for alternatives to SH25A, the main highway into the region, “for months”, while Mayor Len Salt has said repairs would “not happen quickly”.

Felix Marwick of Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency said they couldn’t provide estimates for when roads would reopen, as it depended on how quickly crews could clear them.

“Bearing in mind that the ongoing bad weather brings the risk of more slips, flooding, and extensions of closures,” he said.

Current road closures across the motu can be found here, and a list of roads closed in the Auckland region could be found here.

People have been urged to travel only when absolutely necessary. It is recommended those who must travel use the Waka Kotahi journey planner.

Public transport

Train services in Auckland will not resume until Tuesday at the earliest. Even then, large slips on the Western and Eastern Lines are likely to cause disruptions, with reduced services.

Meadowbank Station was likely to remain closed and passengers on the Western Line would need to transfer between trains at New Lynn, Auckland Transport said.

In a statement, Auckland Transport said rail services had not been operating over the weekend, because of KiwiRail’s closure, but rail replacement buses were running.

“On the public transport front our AT Metro team has been working closely with our bus and ferry operators to restore services, with buses and ferries running today to their usual Sunday timetables.”

Auckland Transport were working to recover stranded and flooded buses, and repairs were under way.

Auckland Airport

International flights at Auckland Airport resumed on Sunday, but disruptions are likely to continue for several days.

Heavy rain and flooding forced the closure of Auckland Airport’s Domestic and International terminals on Friday night.

The airport’s closure came hours after a landing plane hit and damaged several runway lights, causing major delays to flights.

A spokesperson for Auckland Airport confirmed international flights could leave the airport by 5am on Sunday, while arrivals would start at 7am.

The first flight out was scheduled to leave at 6am Sunday.

The spokesperson said anyone flying internationally should contact airlines for details.

Despite international flights being able to resume on Sunday, according to the airport’s arrivals and departures board, many airlines had still cancelled or rescheduled flights.

The airport’s domestic terminal reopened at midday on Saturday, and domestic flights were operating normally.

What’s happening with schools?

Ministry of Education head of property Sam Fowler said they had contacted all schools and kura in the Auckland region, and the majority had indicated they were not affected or only had minor damage.

Fowler said they were following up with the small number of schools and kura who said they had suffered significant damage, to provide any support.

But, the decision to open or close was in the hands of the Board of Trustees for schools, he said.

The Ministry of Education said they would know Monday if any schools who had planned to open weren’t able to.

“The best information will come from schools themselves and parents and whānau are advised to check their school’s website or Facebook page,” Fowler said.

Here's where to get help if you've been affected by the flooding and evacuations in Auckland.