Pigeon Post News: State of Emergency declared in Auckland

Saturday, January 28, 2023

State of Emergency declared in Auckland

Heavy rain causing flooding, evacuations and State of Emergency declared in Auckland

27 - 28 Jan 2023

Auckland Airport flooded and evacuated

27 Jan 2023

Auckland mayor Wayne Brown has declared a state of emergency in the Auckland region which comes into force immediately and will expire in seven days.

"This declaration reflects the extent of damage, displacement and disruption caused by this evening's severe weather event and enables emergency services and response agencies to draw on resources, and enact additional powers, to assist affected Aucklanders," Brown said in a statement.

Auckland Northern Motorway flooded

MetService has issued a red level heavy rain warning for Auckland about and south of Cape Rodney until 3am on Saturday with up to 120mm of rain forecast in addition to the 150-200mm that had already fallen.

The rain was likely to cause significant flooding and dangerous river conditions, MetService said.

Slips and flooding were likely to disrupt travel and make some roads impassable possibly isolating communities, it said.

MetService reported 238mm of rain had fallen across central Auckland on Friday.

North Shore Auckland, Shopping Centre flooded

An emergency accommodation centre has been set up at St Leonard's Primary School at 15 St Leonards Road in the west Auckland suburb of Kelston to house people evacuated from floodwaters.

Auckland Emergency Management said staff were out assessing flooding, including reports of people being rescued from the roofs of their houses.

Duty Controller Andrew Clark said people should stay at home and shelter if it was safe to do so.

Victoria Park tunnel to Northern Motorway Flooded

The severe weather was set to continue until the early hours of Saturday morning, he said.

Power company Vector said that today's flooding has impacted the electricity network causing widespread outages, particularly in West Auckland.

The Elton John concert scheduled for Mt Smart stadium on Friday night was cancelled, but there were already around 11,000 people at the stadium when the announcement was made.

A building on Candia Road, Auckland slipped down a hill

Motorists are being advised to stay off the roads in the Auckland region if possible and not to drive through flood waters. Many roads are flooded and large sections of motorways and main roads are flooded.

Many residents in West Auckland have their homes flooded.

Latest Tweet from:

Auckland Transport

There is currently widespread disruption across our public transport and roading network as a result of today's severe rain and flooding. Please stay at home if you can, and if you do need to travel please take care.