Auckland floods: Govt announces further funding support for upper North Island
Thursday, 2 February 2023
An extra $700,000 has been allocated by Government to support flood-affected regions across the upper North Island.
Auckland saw its wettest day ever and severe flooding on Friday, and heavy rain has continued to lash the region as well as the wider upper North Island in recent days.
In a press conference on Thursday afternoon, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins further funding had been pledged to support the response and recovery of Auckland, Waikato, Coromandel, Northland, and Bay of Plenty regions, through activating ‘Enhanced Taskforce Green’ to help with flood relief efforts.
Speaking from Tāmaki Makaurau, Hipkins said $500,000 is being made available to provide unskilled and semi-skilled jobs for local people to support farmers, growers and communities by completing clean-up work on their properties.
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Damage to farms, homes, roads and bridges across flood-affected regions was “extensive” and “will no doubt take a long time to be fully assessed”.
This funding would enable local councils and other authorised agencies to hire job-seekers to help.
Hipkins met with business leaders in Auckland on Thursday morning to hear “firsthand” the full impact the severe weather event had on businesses, and is due to meet the Student Volunteer Army on Thursday afternoon, which has been doing “an incredible job” helping those affected by the floods.
Hipkins said the flooding and storm damage across the upper North Island has been classified as a “medium-scale adverse event”, which also unlocked extra support for farmers and growers.
In a statement, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said some areas which recorded “unprecedented” amounts of rain experienced flooded farmland, damaged infrastructure and loss of crops.
An additional $200,000 would be allocated to Rural Support Trusts, to help farmers and growers through this event, which comes after an already “challenging and wet season” for many.
This funding is on top of more than $1 million which has been provided to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland, Hipkins said.
Hipkins reiterated that Civil Defence payments are available right now, and urged those affected to get in touch with the Ministry of Social Development if they need support.
While the full extent of the damage may take weeks to be revealed, it’s clear there has been “significant impacts” on communities, farmers and growers right across the upper North Island, and authorities would be keeping a “close eye” on things over the coming weeks to see if further support is needed.
Further to the funding announced on Thursday, Inland Revenue will activate its “Adverse Event Income Equalisation Scheme” for affected regions, to enable businesses to “even out” income fluctuations by spreading their gross income, officials said.
Auckland remains in a local state of emergency. There has been damage to a number of roads, and the advice remains to avoid non-essential travel and stay out of severely damaged areas, Hipkins said.
Further heavy rain is forecast in northern regions of the North Island – Northland, Auckland, Coromandel Peninsula and Bay of Plenty – and west of the South Island on Thursday.
MetService has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for Auckland, Great Barrier Island, Coromandel Peninsula and Waikato, from 2-10pm on Thursday, with a “moderate risk” of localised downpours of 25-40mm per hour.
An “orange” heavy rain warning is in force for Bay of Plenty, west of Kawerau (including the Rotorua Lakes District, Western Bay of Plenty, and Tauranga City), from 11am on Thursday to 8am on Friday.