May 09, 2023
State of emergency as rain falls on Auckland
A state of local emergency has been declared for Auckland as torrential rains flood parts of the city.
Mayor Wayne Brown, who is in Sydney on council business, delegated his responsibilities and powers to Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson after declaring the emergency, based on an urgent phone briefing from Auckland Emergency Management Civil Defence.
He says the decision was based on the lessons learnt from the Anniversary Auckland floods.
Auckland Emergency Management issued a region-wide emergency mobile alert around noon.
Fire and Emergency Tāmaki Makaurau on-call commander Brad Mosby says crews responded to 88 weather related calls for help between 9am and noon, 22 of them urgent.
The call outs mostly include flooding that had entered buildings, but there were also slips, fallen trees, and one tree catching fire due to lightning,
Auckland Emergency Management has opened a Civil Defence Centre at Te Manawa Library in Massey-Westgate.
The National Emergency Management Agency has activated the National Coordination Centre to support response agencies and civil defence around the country.
Director John Price says the front moving up the west coast will bring significant rainfall over the next two days.
There is considerable anxiety after the January floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, and the best thing is to be prepared by reducing risks and to look after whanau and neighbours.
“In these emergency situations connectedness is the key, looking after each other is the key. If you are concerned about your own safety or well behind and the water is rising around where you live, ring 111 and emergency services will be there are first responders,” Mr Price says.