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Homes, businesses and roads have again been flooded in Auckland as heavy rain lashed the city from the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Up to 60mm of rain fell over two hours in some parts of the city overnight, MetService said, but fears of a repeat of Friday’s flooding have been allayed as rain has eased.
However, in the rural Auckland township of Manukau Heads, three people were injured – two seriously and a third person with minor injuries – when the bach they were inside collapsed after being hit by a landslide shortly before midday.
A person trapped inside was rescued just after 2pm.
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Surface flooding has been reported across suburbs on the North Shore and central Auckland, including Devonport, Wairau Valley, Pt Chevalier, Sandringham and Onehunga.
There have also been reports of trees falling on houses in Mt Albert and Whitford.
The Tūpuna Maunga Authority has recruited a team of arborists to clear several trees that “migrated” from the Ōwairaka Mt Albert volcanic cone onto neighbours’ properties.
A spokesperson said the only way to remove the trees safely was by using a helicopter.
Weather allowing, this will take place on Thursday and Friday. The maunga will be closed to the public for both days.
Lawrence Smith/Stuff
Flooding along Universal Drive in Auckland
Once the trees have been removed, further assessments will be done to figure out how to stabilise land slips from the maunga, the spokesperson said.
A number of slips saw traffic diverted in West Auckland and a large slip on Tāmaki Drive closed the road beside the water.
There have also been at least four slips along Scenic Drive in Titirangi and Swanson.
Meanwhile, in some parts of the city, vulnerable residents have been evacuated by volunteers, said new Auckland Minister Michael Wood.
Fire and Emergency NZ regional manager, Ron Devlin, said emergency crews went to 53 weather-related incidents overnight.
But while he said emergency crews were on top of call-outs, he asked people to only call 111 if they were faced with a life-threatening situation.
He said events on Wednesday morning were mostly across Devonport, Northcote, Ellerslie, Mt Albert and Greenlane.
Campbell Bay resident Fleur Hodgkinson’s backyard “looks like Vietnam in monsoon season”, she said.
The stream near her home flooded on Friday, and again early on Wednesday morning.
Abigail Dougherty/Stuff
Landslides and debris from the storm has blocked roads and damaged homes in Auckland’s Titirangi.
She said the flooding was half an hour away from being as bad as Friday.
“But it is still worse than it has ever been in over 23 years of neighbours living here.”
Part of the car park of Bayswater’s Ocean Breeze Hotel has slid down a cliff into the sea, leaving the building teetering near the edge.
But while the worst of the weather has passed, police are still urging motorists to take extra care on the roads and avoid travel where possible.
Debbie Burrows/Supplied
An Auckland Transport bus pushes through flood waters in Beachcroft Ave, Onehunga, early Wednesday morning.
Maungakiekie-tamaki Local Board deputy chairperson Debbie Burrows saw an Auckland Transport Bus pushing through the flood waters in Beachcroft Avenue Onehunga early Wednesday morning.
The waters slashed past the bus’s window wipers.
“I saw a bus ploughing through. I couldn’t believe it. As it got closer to me, I could see the fear on the passenger’s faces,” she said.
For Blockhouse Bay resident Jon Adams and his husband, the last six days have been a “whirlwind of emotions”.
From the “devastation” they felt when their house first flooded on Friday, to the “relief” they felt when the rain stopped, back to the horror of discovering their driveway was once again “like a river” on Wednesday morning.
“Thank God this time around hasn’t been as bad overall, but the water definitely rose a lot quicker,” he said.
Adams had spent the weekend ripping up his carpet and “frantically” moving everything up to the top of his house. An insurance assessor was due to come to check over the house on Wednesday.
“I hope he has a good pair of gumboots,” Adams said.
Auckland Transport (AT) will waive infringement notices issued to cars in the days following devastating floods.
On Wednesday, Stuff revealed AT had been criticised as “heartless” for having traffic wardens out ticketing cars in Browns Bay after the area was hit hard by flooding.
Over the weekend, residents could be seen emptying sodden furniture and rolls of carpets onto the streets.
At the same time, AT parking officers were out and about, issuing infringement notices to 22 cars in Browns Bay.
On Wednesday, deputy mayor Desley Simpson told Today FM she would speak with the chief executive “straight away” about the tickets.
A few hours later, group manager of parking services and compliance John Strawbridge said all fines issued between 2pm on Friday and 9am on Wednesday would be waived due to “the unprecedented events of the past few days”.
Meanwhile, leaked emails obtained by Stuff reveal Auckland mayor Wayne Brown tried to silence fellow councillors and leave him to be the “one voice” on the city’s flooding matters.
Already under fire for poor communication, Brown is now facing criticism from his peers after trying to silence them – with one veteran councillor slamming Brown’s email to 170 local politicians as an affront to all elected members.
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