Message from Mayor Wayne Brown
A year on, the impact on our communities continues from both the floods and the cyclone. As a city, we will still be recovering from this in the years to come.
The anniversaries of both events will be tough for a lot of people. My thoughts are with those who suffered the loss of a loved one, their livelihood, or their home in the most devastating flooding Auckland has seen, certainly in my lifetime.
We learned a lot from these catastrophic events. There is still work to be done, but I am confident that we can reduce Auckland’s exposure to risk when, and not if, something like this happens again.
I have visited residents and spent much time with council building inspectors and geotechnical engineers, and I have the greatest sympathy for the situations people find themselves in following these extreme weather events. I hope the plans we have in place show a path forward.
I know the recovery seems slow. We just don’t have hundreds of geotechnical engineers and flood assessors on standby for something of this magnitude, and I cannot emphasise enough the complexity of this work; we need to make sure everyone is working together and on board with what we are doing. The one-year update in this newsletter details some of that work and the works in the pipeline, so to speak.
I want to reassure people that I am doing everything in my power to better prepare Auckland for the future. Our draft Long-term Plan will detail much of this. I want to protect Auckland's future. I want a physically and financially resilient Auckland, and I am doing all I can to get us there.
Message from Deputy Mayor, Desley Simpson
I would also like to express my deepest sympathy for those of you who lost loved ones as a result of last year’s storm events. The floods and the subsequent cyclone caused unprecedented havoc throughout our region, leading to distress and loss for so many Aucklanders.
In the face of this hardship, we have all seen many examples of bravery, resilience and community togetherness. One example, that is incredibly touching, is the community mural in Sunnynook, to commemorate two locals, Daniel Newth and Daniel Miller, who tragically died during the floods on Friday 27 January.
We have now marked the one-year anniversary of the first devastating storm event in 2023. For many of you, your reality is that you haven’t been given certainty, so you can either return to your homes, or move on and that worries us all. Looking forward, I’d definitely like to see the pace ramp up.
Visiting areas, listening to your harrowing experiences, and seeing the devastation the weather events caused is truly heartbreaking. You have my assurance, that my advocacy remains focused on supporting affected communities across our region.
A year on, the journey is far from over – but we will get there, together.
