A landslip in Auckland’s west coast settlement of Muriwai has residents reliving the devastating landslides of two years ago.
Muriwai was hit badly during the 2023 Auckland Anniversary floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, with large slips making some areas unliveable.
The community was struck by another slip at the weekend on Motutara Rd.
Fire and Emergency evacuated properties in the immediate area after Saturday’s slip as a precaution.
No one was injured, but the slip restricted the roads into town to one lane, and one resident says it has stirred bad memories.
Longtime Muriwai resident Delwyn Shepherd told RNZ that the storms kept the community on edge.
“I think for everyone in the community, whether you were part of the landslide zones one to five, or whether you just live within the community, there is a sense of anticipation, and definitely stress,” she said.
“I think you relive the event mentally, even though you know that you’ve moved forward.”
She wanted Auckland Council to do better with how it used data to warn west coast residents ahead of dangerous weather events.
“As a local, I’m really disappointed, because our council is just reactive, they’re not being proactive,” Shepherd said.
“There are plenty of smart people with good knowledge that could stop all these triggering events for people and their well-being.”
Shepherd said the storms left Muriwai with an uncertain future.
“There’ll be more and more people, probably in the retired age, that no longer want the stress of it, that may end up selling before they intended to sell and move to a place that is not in any sort of landslide, hazard, or flooding zone.”
Another resident Clare Bradley said the weekend’s slip happened on land that was categorised as safe to live on.
“I guess the question that is upper-most in most people’s minds is – the family who live in this property were thankfully away, but their home is damaged, and is the extent of the damage sufficient to have made it unsafe for them to have been living there?” she asked.
“I guess that’s a question that the council geo-tech team, and GHD who did the study report, will have to address to allay fears in the community that the rest of us who are living, and working, and spending our time in our category one homes are safe in the event of a future severe weather event.”
She said there were questions that needed answering.
“We need to know how did this happen, was it avoidable, is there anything we should be doing or anything that council should be doing in order to improve stormwater runoff?”
Auckland Council chief engineer Ross Roberts told Midday Report they were continuing their response from the 2023 storms, including moving residents out of worst-affected areas.
“Along with that comes other community planning that’s going on, and we’re looking at what we can do in terms of infrastructure as well, but community planning and ensure that people have the understanding of the hazards and the ability to manage them is really what makes the difference here,” he said.
Auckland Council said the closed lane on Motutara Rd would reopen when it was determined safe to do so and once geotechnical assessments were completed.
rnz.co.nz
