Auckland floods: 'Massive crack' as multiple trees smash into Auckland home

Monday, 30 January 2023

An Auckland family were left fearing for their lives on Friday when raging floodwaters uprooted several trees and brought them crashing down into their North Shore home.

Sherrie Edwards​ was trying to clear some flood water which had made its way down her driveway in Northcote on Friday evening when she heard a “massive crack”.

“It was then followed by a ‘whoosh’ and I looked up, and I was like ‘oh my god’. The whole side of the bank had gone,” Edwards said.

“We didn’t realise what had happened until we looked over the deck and saw trees in the house. I was in total shock.”

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**

She said her neighbours’ property had a landslide during the storm, and floodwaters were raging “so fast it took away the land about a metre into their property”.

“We live in a bush situation, and the slip took down all the trees. There are about 20 trees which have come down.

“One big tree is lodged in our deck, and the rest have all been suspended mid-air by the ones that are leaning up against the house and are in the house.”

Edwards said the trees had punctured holes through the exterior and interior walls of her home, and her 21-year-old daughter had lost a large window in her bedroom.

“I don’t know if she will be able to sleep in the room for a while because her bed is broken. The tree went right into the base of the bed.

“It was terrifying, but we are just really fortunate she was not at home at the time. If she had been, she would have been petrified.”

She said the deck, which was approximately 70 metres off the ground, had been damaged along with some electrical wires.

“There was broken glass everywhere along with bits of tree. The was also a whole tree stump sticking through the wall.

“It’s pretty significant damage. We have been given the go-ahead from our insurance company to do some remedial safety work like cutting the tree trunk out of the bedroom.”

She said she had been advised to leave the trees stuck in the walls because, “we are not sure what further damage it could cause to the slip still beneath the house”.

In the meantime, the family are still living in the house, using interior blinds to cover damaged windows.

“We haven’t got anything else to board up the windows with because our local Bunnings is closed due to flood damage,” Edwards said.

She said if the heavy rain continued, there could be more landslides.

“The slip is blocking the storm water overflow that comes from Birkenhead right down to what runs through both of our properties down in the bush.

“With the slip that’s happened, it’s blocking all the rain water flow, so there is potential for further flooding.”

Auckland Council on Sunday evening said 72 building inspectors were deployed on Saturday, to perform rapid impact assessments of buildings and houses that were severely impacted by slips, land subsidence and flood damage.

“Response efforts have been ongoing as Aucklanders continue to clean up and assess the impacts of Friday’s storm which lashed the region, and delivered record rainfall.

“Hundreds of Auckland Council staff and contractors have been on the ground across our region to assist Auckland Emergency Management, emergency services, and those hit hard by the impacts of intense rain,” said Auckland Council chief executive Jim Stabback​.