Clean-up continues around Auckland

Please attribute the following statements to the Director of Auckland Emergency Management, John Dragicevich.

Auckland Emergency Management has been working closely with other agencies and today to assess damage and clean up debris as quickly as possible. 115,000 properties are affected by ongoing power outages.

A few roads are closed and some public transport services were affected this morning. In most cases this has now returned to business as usual.

Auckland Council and its partner agencies, including Auckland Transport, Vector, Counties Power and Fire and Emergency New Zealand, have been working overnight and throughout the day to restore power, make properties safe and remove debris that is blocking roads and accessways.

As soon as we received advice from Metservice yesterday we advised our stakeholders and provided advice to the public via social media. This was updated throughout the night and this morning.

At the same time, and following the devastating tornado and high winds in Taranaki, the Metservice’s advice that the storm system was moving north, was extensively covered by media.

We must remember that there will always be some uncertainty with weather events and their impact – but Auckland Emergency Management, and the region’s emergency responders and power providers, planned and acted appropriately.

Like other agencies and members of the public, we rely on Metservice and weather forecasters to provide us with weather advice – we are not weather forecasting experts. Metservice’s predication on this event was accurate.

All of our emergency services and Vector were prepared for the event and geared up yesterday afternoon to respond.

Emergency Services (111) have received over 1800 calls related to the storm and they are still working through a backlog of calls, so your patience with our Emergency Services is appreciated.

The council’s contact centre has received approximately 1000 calls, with the majority being about fallen trees and power outages. Our priority is making sure tree falls are secure – the removal clean-up work will continue over the next few days.

Power outages will continue to affect many Aucklanders, potentially for a few more days. We urge people to look out for their neighbours, check in with friends and family, and make sure they are coping ok. This is a time for us all to work together.

We are expecting more low level rain throughout the day. There is also a weather watch for Auckland and Great Barrier for tomorrow night, where we are expecting some heavy rain and possibly thunder.

Although there are trees down and power out in parts of the region, the Auckland region is coping well and Aucklanders are getting on with their day and we appreciate their assistance as the city gets back to normal.

ENDS

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