A Dunedin man with a learning disability spent Christmas Day cooped up inside a motel, as the date to move back into his flood-damaged house keeps being pushed back.
In October, unprecedented rainfall battered the Otago region, causing flooding, slips, and a state of emergency to be declared in Dunedin and the Clutha District.
Nearly 50 properties across Dunedin were either red- or yellow-stickered: a red sticker indicates a house is unsafe to occupy, while a yellow sticker limits entry.
A week later, RNZ reported some Dunedin residents forced to evacuate were struggling to secure accommodation, while others were moving from motel to motel every few days.
But the beginning of January will mark three months since David King moved into a motel. Despite being told that he could return home before Christmas, he will now have to wait until at least mid-January.
“It’s a nightmare,” he told RNZ.
King has a learning disability, also known as an intellectual disability, making an extended stay in temporary accommodation difficult, especially after spending years setting up his home to suit his needs.
When the floods struck, he not only lost his house but also the support that helped him manage day-to-day life.
“I had to rearrange [my] whole life again with no support – it’s a pain in the ass, and it’s another stress that frankly I don’t need.”
The festive season has been especially hard for King, knowing he will spend Christmas Day confined to his motel room, unsure if the mid-January date for moving back home will be delayed yet again.
“I say Christmas, but not merry, because I’m not in the mood.
“And at the end of the day… I’m still struggling.”
‘This will haunt me for the rest of my life’
As King sat alone in his house, floodwaters mixed with sewage and sludge began to creep in.
“I will have long-term memory of that and this will haunt me for the rest of my life – the memory of the floods.”
King said he felt let down by the Dunedin City Council after being promised sandbags that never arrived. His brother had to call to find out where they were being distributed, then pick them up and bring them to King’s house – but by the time he arrived, the water was already up to King’s door.
“[The] council said they’ll come with sandbags and volunteers will put sandbags [at the] front of the door… but I never got that.”
The Dunedin City Council did not address King’s situation, but said its staff, contractors, and many within the community had worked hard to respond as quickly and effectively as possible in difficult conditions to address issues and support people across the community.
“This included delivering sandbags to vulnerable people and establishing two welfare centres for people that had self-evacuated.”
There were varying experiences too, unlike King, another Dunedin man with a disability Chris Ford said he had a positive experience during the floods.
Ford, who uses a wheelchair, was reminded on Facebook by former Dunedin South MP Clare Curran to evacuate his home.
“You know things are bad when politicians are contacting you directly,” he said.
The Dunedin City Council even arranged for his favourite mobility taxi firm to pick him up.
“I was picked up around 11pm, feeling anxious and unsure as to what the next day or two would hold, as the storm was forecast to continue until early Saturday.
“As the taxi drove off, I thought that I was being taken to one of the evacuation centres that had been set up, but Civil Defence had better plans in that I was relocated to a comfortable, fully accessible motel in North Dunedin where I spent the next two days.”
King told RNZ the trauma from the experience will linger.
“The long-term scars… if I hear rain – hear rainfall now, I get really… really strung out.
“I’m still processing. I’m still struggling with the whole thing.
“I won’t be happy for a while. I feel unsafe now.”
With no support when he needed it most, King was forced to handle insurance claims alone.
“If you have no support around you, you’re on your own. You’ve got no one to carry you through the system.”
Even when he returns home, he will face new challenges: reconnecting utilities, salvaging his belongings, and managing additional costs – all while on a benefit.
“Sometimes if you don’t have the right support you are really stuck.”
King said the Dunedin City Council should have a plan in place to support people with disabilities during emergencies.
He said it should include to contact them with clear instructions to follow, prioritising them for resources such as sandbags, evacuating them early to avoid them being stranded in floodwaters, and providing regular updates in accessible formats.
“Because it’s becoming far too common – it will be a regular occurrence now with climate change.”
Advocates call for emergency preparedness, response, and recovery to be more inclusive
Disabled Persons Assembly (DPA) chief executive Mojo Mathers said a DPA survey earlier this year identified emergency preparedness as one of the highest priorities for the disability community.
In the Kōrero for Change on Emergency Preparedness, a webinar hosted by Access Matters Aotearoa on December 11, project manager Juliana Carvalho said people with disabilities were often not consulted or included in emergency planning and decision-making processes, leading to solutions that do not address their real-world needs.
“Emergency response plans often fail to account for the diverse needs of disabled people, leading to gaps in evacuation procedures, shelter accessibility, and resource distribution,” she said.
Emergency alerts and information were not always provided in accessible formats such as New Zealand Sign Language, Easy Read, or braille, leaving many uninformed or inadequately prepared during crises too, Carvalho said.
She said physical infrastructure, including buildings, stairwells, and emergency exits, is often inaccessible.
“Disabled people may face delays or be left behind during evacuations due to a lack of suitable evacuation equipment or trained personnel.
“Emergency responders and wardens may lack the training to understand or address the specific needs of disabled people, leading to inadequate or inappropriate support during disasters.”
Carvalho said additional supplies, such as medical equipment, mobility aids, or backup power for devices, are not included from standard emergency kits.
She added that many people with disabilities faced financial challenges, which meant they might not be able to afford essential preparedness measures, such as emergency kits, evacuation equipment, or home modifications.
Dr Suzanne Phibbs, health sociologist and senior lecturer at Massey University Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa, Joint Centre for Disaster Research, said research had shown that people in lower socioeconomic groups were more likely to be impacted in a disaster and less likely to have appropriate resources for response and recovery.
Research had also shown that inequalities that exist prior to a disaster would be amplified in post‑disaster contexts, Phibbs added.
“Tangata whaikaha are more likely to live in low-income communities and are less likely to have their needs met in response and recovery.”
In 2018, Phibbs developed the Inverse Response Law, which suggests that following a disaster, those with the greatest need receive the least help and to a lesser standard.
“With low-income people, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, and disabled people more likely to be affected.
“We need an all-of-government approach to disability-inclusive preparedness and response.
“The current Government’s funding and service cuts increase material hardship as well as social isolation, which are risk factors for disaster vulnerability.
“You can’t have one sector of government focusing on disability-inclusive disaster preparedness and response while another is actively exacerbating conditions of disaster vulnerability for disabled people.”
In a statement, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston said the Government was focused on meeting the needs of disabled people, their families, and carers.
She said Cabinet will be implementing all seven recommendations of an independent review of the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha.
As part of this, Upston added, the wider disability community will also be able to have their say on how the Government should deliver disability support services early next year.
By Pretoria Gordon of rnz.co.nz
