'Inhumane': Flood victims ineligible for council buy-out, but neighbours are

6:35 pm today

Brendon and Stephanie Deacon in front of their property that was considered category one by Auckland Council despite their neighbours all being category three following flooding.

Brendon and Stephanie Deacon outside their Huapai home. Photo: RNZ / Luka Forman

An Auckland family who have been hit by flash flooding say it feels inhumane that their family home is not eligible for a council buy-out when all of their neighbours will be getting one.

Brendon Deacon and his young family have twice had extreme flooding at their property, first in 2021 when they had to escape on a kayak in the middle of the night, and again in January 2023.

All of their nearby neighbours were labelled category three under the council's buy-out scheme, meaning there was an intolerable risk to life at their properties, and they would be bought out.

But the Deacons' home was labelled category one, meaning it was still safe to live in.

Street in Auckland's Huapai that flooded during severe weather, meaning a number of residents were accepted for council buy-out.

Flooding of the street. Photo: SUPPLIED

The family said this made no sense.

When Brendon and Stephanie Deacon bought their home in Huapai in Auckland's northwest, they were hoping for a slice of the Kiwi dream.

"We're at the end of a cul-de-sac, the kids can go out and play and not worry about them. We ended up with that - with fantastic neighbours, with their best friends from birth living next door."

But flash flooding in 2021 took them by surprise. Water rose quickly to nearly two metres high under their house, and they had to escape in the middle of the night.

"It scares me every time I think about it."

"We took our 1-year-old out on a kayak at 3 o'clock in the morning, in waters that you couldn't see through and it was flash flooding. It went from knee to chest height by the time we'd got out."

The Deacons' home was labelled category one by the council, meaning there was no intolerable risk to life for the family.

Brendon Deacon felt this was inhumane after what they had been through.

Brendon and Stephanie Deacon at their property that was considered category one by Auckland Council despite their neighbours all being category three following flooding.

The Deacons under their house. Photo: RNZ / Luka Forman

"They're expecting us to sit in a home, without power, without water without sewerage and two metres of water rushing under your house that's moved cars. Four-wheel-drives have landed metres away from our house ... and they think it's safe for us to sit here and wait."

At a meeting on 6 November, the council said they would be engaging a surveyor and structural engineer to carry out further assessments and the report should be available in about three weeks.

But the Deacons said they had not heard from, or seen, a structural engineer since that meeting.

Brendon Deacon said the whole process had been really tough on their kids.

"Kids can't properly communicate what they need. But you can see that through their behaviour, even just the fact that when it rains heavily our oldest daughter cries."

Since the rest of the street had been labelled category three, Stephanie Deacon said their small community had essentially become a ghost town.

Flooding of the street. Photo: SUPPLIED

"Emma, our youngest, keeps asking why her friends Zoe and Toby had to move because of the flood, and why we can't move. She'll stand out on the deck and look at their house the way she used to when she was waiting for a playdate."

Lawyer Grant Shand has been advocating for the Deacons and said the council's decision made no sense - but the family were not the only ones in this situation.

"I've talked to a few people who were surprised to be category one. Given that neighbours are category three. I don't think this is an unusual circumstance but it is certainly something that should be fixed."

In a statement, Auckland council's natural and built environments lead Craig Hobbs said it was applying its categorisation approach fairly and consistently across all homes which have opted in for a buy-out.

Risk varies from home-to-home depending on factors like topography and how close they were to flooding sources, he said, which was why some neighbours were given different categories to each other.

In the Deacons' case, Hobbs said the family had applied for a category review and Auckland Council had commissioned further assessments of their property, which they would carry out in good faith.