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Auckland floods: 700 homes believed to still be without power

Sunday, 29 January 2023

Streets were underwater in West Auckland's Glendene.

Hundreds of Aucklanders remain without power or water following Friday’s damaging flood.

Auckland is currently in a state of emergency following the flooding, with more heavy rain expected to hit on Sunday afternoon.

Have you been affected by the flooding? Email aucklandnewsroom@stuff.co.nz

At least 5000 Auckland properties are being assessed for flood or landslide damage and three people have been killed, with a fourth person missing.

**READ MORE:

* Live: Girl injured as slips destroy homes in Tauranga, flood damage spreads in north

* Northland predicted to experience heavy rain Sunday afternoon

* 'I can't believe they got out' - Slip collapses Tauranga houses

**

Properties on Shore Road in Remuera were badly damaged during the flood.
Properties on Shore Road in Remuera were badly damaged during the flood.

Many homes have been left without power, but by 10am on Sunday, Vector said 98% had now been restored.

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

A Vector spokesperson said crews had been working throughout the night to restore power and a crew was on Kawau Island on Sunday.

“A power pole came down on the island in a dense area of bush making repairs extremely difficult. It’s likely we won’t be able to get a replacement to the island before Monday.

“While road access has now been improved to other impacted areas, we anticipate our crews may find additional issues that we have not had visibility of to date.

“This could mean more extensive repairs required due to damage to our network at multiple locations.”

The spokesperson acknowledged it was “extremely difficult” to be without power for extended periods of time and Vector would be communicating directly with those affected.

Anyone who had welfare needs was urged to call Civil Defence, the spokesperson said.

Vector was also preparing for potential future impacts of continued rain and wind in the coming days.

“Safety of our crews and the public remain paramount and at times our crews may need to stand down due to unsafe conditions.

”We would like to thank Aucklanders for their patience and reassure them we will continue to work around the clock to restore all power, and be as prepared as possible for further bad weather.”

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.

”Today we are looking at options regarding how we will fix the pipe. It will be complex and will take time to carry out.

”Our focus is on restoring services as quickly as safely as possible at the moment. We will only be able to report on the scale of the repairs from a financial perspective after the incident is over.”

Water tankers are on site at: