February 02, 2023
Brown casts engineer’s eye over Auckland fix
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown says construction methods may have to have to change to deal with the new reality over weather.
Mr Brown visited Nga Whare Waatea Marae in Mangere this morning as part of a tour of the city looking at how communities responded to the floods on Friday and Tuesday.
He says the immediate priority is clearing away the flood damage before it becomes a health hazard, and he has talked to the prime minister about getting the defence force to assist with trucks.
The focus will then shift to fixing the city, which is where his experience as an engineer will come in handy.
He says people need to think more about water and weather when they rebuild.
Instead of concrete footings we’re going to be building tanalised ply floors up 600 off the thing. We are going to have floods but let’s be ready for it. Flood the ground, not the houses, not the buildings,” Mayor Brown says.
He says he could have been a better communicator, but there were also questions he will be asking about the quality of the advice he was getting.