Note - Aucklanders do live in former rainforest and must expect a certain amount of dampness and humidity during our wet summers. This is nothing out of the ordinary, but when you cut down most of the trees, drain wetlands, divert rivers, pave areas for roads and footpaths and build houses in low lying areas sometimes it can be recipe for disaster.
As the people living in Clover Drive found out yesterday. But thankfully their houses were just drowned/baptised a little and didn't collapse off the side of a cliff like ones in Titirangi and Herne Bay.
I was making my way to Woodside, the rain had held off for a bit and I was determined to grab the last of the potatoes in the shed that were crying out for someone to eat them. I was thankful for the rain for that meant I could skip my Monday watering duty. Everything was looking lush.
Further down the creek at the bottom of Don Buck Road near the bridge was the debris that had been washed out in the downpour - mops, baby toys, plastic tubs, fences, twigs, prunings, sponges, plastic bags and the contents of all that people stuff into their garages.
Some people were looking for their cars and trailers that had washed down from the Massey Pony Club. A car was tipped up on its hind wheels and had crashed into the fence. Others had simply floated away. The only way across the blocked drains and lakes was by dinghy, kayak or jet ski. Though not many had those who lived in the State Houses along the way.
A State of Emergency was declared (thanks Mayor Wayne Brown for finally getting on to it - that's what you're meant to do as Mayor, sir) and the new Prime Minister put in a few words of solace. We had a big clean up job to do. Most of the Clover Drive residents were waiting for the rain to ease and the insurance people to come around to assess the damage. Neighbours had set up a coffee station to have a break and the Ranui Baptist Church was housing evacuees. People were doing washing and pulling up damp carpets.
The water had risen so high that a tide line had appeared on the houses and there were several unlucky houses sited near culverts and had driveways that sloped downward the internal garages that lead towards their house. As I crossed the bridge across the creek I saw the water rushing past still draining and heading out toward the sea. Had it washed all the shopping trolleys away too? Some of the sewage man holes had burst and overflowed, so some were without water and some without power.
A lake had appeared around the corner of Riverpark thanks to two blocked drains and there was a sudden Facebook frenzy and several calls and txts to check that I was ok. Dad was very happy. He had broken his weather records for this month and sent everyone updates. The dams were 100% full to overflowing. He had to empty his rain gauge and let it fill up twice.
There wasn't really much I could do about the rain or to help others except wait for the sun to shine again to dry everything out. This is the Auckland Summer. We don't ever get the snow, so the rain makes up for it by putting on a show(er). I think Auckland should have a fleet of Noahs' Arks lined up in the harbour, just for emergencies like this so we can escape for a while because the roads up North are blocked.
