10 months in a cabin: Homeowners wait for fate of flood-damaged homes

"A nightmare camping trip that doesn't stop," is how one home owner has described their living situation after 10 months sleeping in a tiny cabin waiting for the fate of their flood-damaged house.  

Auckland Council has begun the buyout process with owners of some of the worst-affected properties, but many remain in limbo.

Some are yet to even have their site assessments completed and are worried they will not have answers by Christmas.  

Rānui resident Keri Skelling showed RNZ a water level mark taller than her on the fence of their Urlich Drive property. 

"We definitely know it was over our heads - people were white-water rafting down the road in kayaks."

It is a reminder of the day everything changed for her family of four, who fled their home of 20 years on the evening of the Auckland anniversary floods, when a months' worth of rain fell across the city in less than an hour. 

They have not spent a night in their yellow-stickered house since, and even though ten months have now passed, coming back does not get any easier. 

"Emotional - very emotional, I think because we wanted this to be our forever home for our kids, that's the hardest part," Skelling said.  

The house has been stripped bare with a gaping hole in what used to be the floor of the sun room. 

Wet Gib and insulation has been removed from the walls, and plumbing and carpets ripped out. The bedrooms are empty bar a few posters. 

"It's not a home anymore, it's just a house, it's just a shell. The kids don't even call it home," Skelling said. 

The volume of water that washed through is hard to fathom. Skelling said they had to suck 180 litres of water out of just one bedroom.  

While the family waits to hear what category they will be, they are staying in two cabins on a friend's property. 

It is all they can afford while still paying their mortgage. 

Skelling said they have become desperate and are now exploring selling their home as is where is.

"What we have been offered will probably pay the mortgage, so our years we've put into this - you know, painting it, tidying it when we bought it, it wasn't quite like this, but yeah, we made it ours."  

Most of their belongings are unsalvageable, with a bed, fridge and a set of drawers each all that is left. The family have been using their contents insurance money payout to pay their rent. 

Next door, Brent Middleton and Deidre Boyes were also waiting to hear whether their home would be bought out. 

They moved in just over a year before the January flood, when Middleton said they had to escape by boat.  

"We grabbed the dinghy, pulled it to the step and loaded it up, me, her, the dog and our stuff that we could grab." 

Their property has been white stickered, which means it is technically okay to live in, but Middleton said that is far from the case.

"It's just really like a nightmare camping trip that doesn't stop."

Deidre said they had also had issues with rats. 

"So that's why all my food's in plastic containers, we've got rat trips in the kitchen, we've blocked all the holes." 

The have been sleeping in a tiny cabin, using the house to cook and shower. But Boyes said sleeping there is not possible.

"During the winter period the dampness was so thick with moisture it was absolutely horrendous... it'll make you quite severely sick if you were to sleep inside. It's just so thick you could cut it with a knife." 

When we visited they had just had an assessor round to look at their property, the last in their street. 

"I really want this done yeah, we need an answer, it's just I can't - we can't live like this forever." 

Despite all the good memories they have from this place, they do not want to come back. 

"Especially when it rains. Every time it rains, we're like meerkats looking out the window." 

Auckland Council has started to inform owners of the worst-affected flood damaged homes that they are eligible for a buyout.

The city's recovery office aimed to advise between 20 to 50 homeowners of their buyout category each week.

For homeowners still waiting for a category, the recovery office was focused on getting assessments completed as quickly as possible.

More than 2100 home owners have voluntarily opted into the categorisation scheme, and of those, more than 1300 desktop assessments and 870 site visits have been completed.

Around 200 low risk property owners have been identified and already been informed of their category one status.