A family in South Auckland still needs to shower outside as they wait for their home to be categorised more than 20 months after it was damaged by last year’s floods.
The suburb of Māngere was one of the hardest hit during the Auckland Anniversary floods. It has struggled to recover, with Auckland Council freezing the categorisation of affected homes.
Just 18 of 95 homes in the area have received a category – the lowest per centage in Auckland’s most affected areas.
Māngere East homeowner Helen Feiloakitohi said her family’s home was hit hard by the floods.
They had no hot water, their newly renovated kitchen was gutted, and most of the furniture needed to be thrown out. Their possessions were still kept in plastic bags.
Apart from the toilet, the Feiloakitohis’ bathroom was virtually unusable, meaning they still needed to shower outside.
“It’s traumatising, actually. You work so hard for your home, your family… Having to go outside in your backyard to shower,” Feiloakitohi said, becoming emotional.
“I was like, ‘This is New Zealand. How come I’m living like this?’ It’s hard.”
Almost two years after the January 27 floods, the family was still waiting to be categorised by the council.
A categorisation would tell them what they’re entitled to, with the worst category meaning the council would buy them out.
Their bank told them it was too risky to do the extensive repairs needed without knowing their category, but the last 20 months have been an endless train of delays.
“They did say they’re going to try and get us a categorisation by next week or something like that. Who knows with the council,” Feiloakitohi said.
Helen Feiloakitohi’s daughter Ilisapeti has given up on her dreams of a postgraduate degree to help her family navigate the process.
“The toll it’s taken makes me wish I studied law,” she said.
The family is not alone. Close to 1000 homes across Auckland are still waiting, with Māngere disproportionately affected.
Figures show nearly 30 suburbs have 25 houses or more which needed a category.
Nearly all have had more than half done, but Māngere is the lowest by far at just 19%.
The council said it was because they had stopped categorising while they waited for the Government to sign off on two big flood prevention projects in the area.
“We’ll spend about $53 million to protect around about 244 homes. Fifty-one of those are currently at significant risk,” the Tāmaki Makaurau Recovery Office’s Craig Hobbs said.
He said the projects have now been approved, and the council can now more accurately categorise each property.
“Māngere will be the first suburb that we’ll actually put spades in the ground to make major interventions into flooding,” he said.
He admitted that communication with residents could have been better.
