After multiple floods, anxious Aucklanders prepare for 'nightmare' winter ahead

Heavy rain, surface flooding, gridlocked traffic and sandbagging are starting to become a part of daily life for many people around Tāmaki Makaurau, as the city recovers from a third bout of torrential downpours in recent months.

As winter approaches, how are Aucklanders preparing for a potentially wet and wild cold season?

Mt Roskill resident Catherine Beggs is living in a cabin on her driveway with her daughter and granddaughter, in front of her newly renovated home that was flooded twice - firstly in the Anniversary floods, and then during Cyclone Gabrielle.

The home still hasn't been repaired. They've lost everything, Beggs said, except for the four walls, roof and a working toilet.

Despite having the support of her whānau and neighbours, all having grown closer since the torrential downpours, she's worried about the coming winter months, and the risks of surface flooding it might bring.

Beggs​ and her family were among many that were forced to escape to safety through waist-deep water on the night of 27 January, the first of Auckland's three floods so far in 2023.

They returned home the following day to find they had lost all their personal belongings in the deluge.

Despite the worry, Beggs isn't planning to leave, rather opting to remain in the cabin throughout the winter.

"I'm on my own piece of land, I'm next to my own home. We own the home, we own the land, I don't want to leave it," she said.

"We've never had so much rain or wind or thunder and lightning from last night [referring to this week's storm]. I tell my granddaughter the Earth has moved sideways, and we're getting the weather we're not supposed to see."

Beggs also said they were unable to rent because they have cats, and no furniture, all having been destroyed in the flooding. The whānau are currently sleeping on air mattresses.

"If we get back into the house before Christmas, I'll be rapt."

Despite the hardships, Beggs said the scale of events that her family, neighbourhood and community has gone through has brought them all closer together as the colder months begin to take hold.

Bethells/Te Henga resident Rose Worley said the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle had 'changed the landscape' of not only their home, but how they were living their lives.

Worley and her family were rescued from rising floodwaters during Cyclone Gabrielle, and returned home to find their West Coast beach property covered by "tonnes" of sand from a nearby stream that overflowed.

"We used to know where water would drain. Now, it's unknown, and we have no idea what a flood would look like," she said.

"We're basically still dealing with drainage with water pooling in areas of the property that never used to. We had some wetlands behind our house, but it's now filled with sand that no longer collects that water."

Stuck in 'a bit of a nightmare'

Worley said as winter approached, she was becoming "quite good" at reading the weather.

"When there's bad weather forecasts we tend to make a plan to not be there. Basically we keep an extremely close eye on the weather."

Worely said it was frustrating having to do so constantly.

"When [the rain] is heavy or unexpected it can cause anxiety. We have to have a bit of a plan and know where we can go and stay if we need to," she said.

"Just knowing that the ground is so sodden and is not going to get a chance to dry out is a huge worry for us. Even a normal amount of rain could be an issue.

"It feels like we're stuck in a bit of a nightmare."

Warkworth resident Jo Wildermoth wasn't worried so much about potential flooding throughout winter, but frustrated at a giant landslide in her backyard that hadn't been fixed following Cyclone Gabrielle.

"We're actually quite lucky in the sense that our house is on a high driveway. We don't really get flooded in a steep bank," she said.

"So that's always been our issue that we knew this slip was going to happen one day."

Wildermoth said although there were worries about the potential for another slip, the fear had been significantly eased due to the support of her community.

"The landslides and the slip has taken out quite a significant portion of our land, there were three garden sheds with it," she said.

"There is a chance that that can happen again. Yeah, absolutely. The land is very unsecure and has been very unsafe for seven years.

"Luckily we live in a small Warkworth community, and after the first flooding some lessons were definitely learnt," she said.

"Our response team locally, it's just amazing. The community centre, it's a town hall, it's opened up, and we've got beds, we've got blankets, we have all sorts. I've got all sorts of community support together."

Traffic chaos

Tuesday's flooding brought Auckland traffic, particularly in the CBD, to a standstill, raising questions about whether the supercity is still unprepared for major weather events.

Trains, buses and ferries were either delayed, detoured, reduced or cancelled as commuters scrambled to get home in the middle of the day.

The ensuing chaos led one resourceful duo to instead ride scooters from the city all the way to west Auckland.

Waka Kotahi reported surface flooding in "many sections" of Tāmaki Makaurau's highway system, along with several crashes. The Brynderwyn Hills and Dome Valley sections of State Highway 1 were also closed.

Both Waka Kotahi and Auckland Transport urged everyone to avoid travelling if possible, or to get home early.

Many were also collecting children from school early, adding to the congestion.

Timothy Welch, from the Auckland University School of Architecture and Planning, said significant changes were needed in order to avoid gridlocking in the future, especially as climate change and the potential for further torrential storms took hold.

"The place we start from, is adding more options to our public transportation network. So much of our network is reliant on cars and there's just no place in the CBD for that many," he said.

"Because as soon as you have even the slightest rush to go somewhere by a majority of people, it's just chaos. The goal is, is to build in multiple other modes that people can take.

"We'd like to see more protected cycleways, so people feel comfortable. Not just sports cyclists but everyday people who can ride to work."

Welch said he'd also like to see modes of transport such as increased bus services, trains and light rail.

"All of these things are important, but it means prioritising more than just the car, and that's not something we frequently do," he said.

This story was first published by Stuff.