Auckland mayor says he wasn't on emergency email list as flood waters rose

Saturday, 4 February 2023

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has said he wasn’t on an emailing list for emergency updates in the lead up to the severe flooding at the end of January.

It comes after he apologised to Aucklanders for “dropping the ball” on Friday as floodwaters rose around his constituents.

A spokesperson for Brown’s office said the email issue has “since been rectified.”

“Unfortunately, neither the Mayor nor his staff were on the AKGEOC (Auckland Civil Defence and Emergency Management Team) email distribution list and did not receive critical updates the day before or day of Auckland’s flooding on Friday,” the spokesperson said.

* Yeah, Nah: Do you think Wayne Brown is doing a good job as Auckland's mayor?

* Govt to relook at proposed emergency management law after Auckland mayor's flood handling

Wayne Brown wasn’t on the right email lists on Friday, he says.

However, Auckland Emergency Management have since emphasised that “email is just one of the tools [we] use for communicating information”.

Speaking at the daily press conference, Auckland Emergency Management deputy controller Rachel Kelleher said:

'We have a range of operating procedures and communication channels that we use for different types of information about events as they begin to escalate.

”In a quickly-moving event, we also use other forms of communication, like phone calls and face to face conversations.”

In the seven days since record-setting rain caused devastation and led to the deaths of four people, Brown’s leadership has come under scrutiny for staying silent for too long, and not declaring a state of emergency until 9.27pm.

A leaked email sent on February 1 revealed how he attempted to silence fellow councillors, and leave him as the “one voice” on the council response to the flooding.

That email was met with criticism too, with North Shore councillor Chris Darby saying the email was inappropriate.

“A lot of members stepped up in day one and two particularly when they observed an information void and lack of political lead,” Darby told Brown by email.

“The tone and content of your email, considering failings, is inappropriate. I would have stopped after the first line where you expressed a sliver of generosity.”

The mayor’s spokesperson said Brown will “wait to see the outcome” of the recently announced review into the flood response.

On Monday, three days after the flooding, Brown held a brief press conference to address the situation, and accepted that communication on Friday was “not good enough.”

He said he was commissioning an independent review into the response.

“We will wait to see the outcome of the review into emergency management of Auckland’s flooding,” the mayor’s spokesperson continued, in response to questions about the alleged email failures.

But the office could not confirm when the review would happen, or exactly what it would cover.

“[We] cannot confirm the specific details or timing of the review at this stage.”