The Dunedin City Council team have prepped their bags and, if called, are ready to go if Cyclone Gabrielle brings a second round of severe weather to the north.
According to Niwa, the category 3 severe tropical cyclone is expected to travel down the east of New Zealand, less than a month after unprecedented amounts of rainfall caused flash flooding throughout the city.
DCC building services team leader support education and compliance Cam Allum was one of six DCC staff sent north to help during the flooding.
Mr Allum is one of 12 people at the council qualified as a rapid building assessor, and he helped to determine whether homes affected by the flood were safe.
"It was a disaster. We were there to say if a building was safe, or dangerous and somebody is going to lose their life."
Despite saying he did not experience destruction of the magnitude shown in media, Mr Allum was shocked to see landslips, buildings teetering precariously on the side of cliffs and extensive flooding around the Ponsonby area he was stationed in.
"There was a six-storey building and it had slipped away from the corner of a cliff — luckily they found the piles went down 12m deep so there was no fear of that going."
He was happy to see the community bonding together, residents helping those less able to remove belongings from their homes and most people pleased to see officials out checking homes.
"We always joke about Auckland, but we feel for them, and that’s why we were really happy to go up and help out.
"I think the guys that went up have got a better appreciation for the magnitude of such a disaster — it is a disaster," he said.
The team had learned some lessons when preparing for flood events in Dunedin, such as the need for more seats in response vehicles so bigger teams could head out at once and packing for all forms of weather.
"We have a better understanding of what we need and what we don’t need, but at least we’ve got 80% of our gear ready to go when we get on the plane," Mr Allum said.
