The Government has announced $700,000 in additional funding to help rebuild flood-ravaged Auckland and other areas in the upper North Island as residents start the clean-up.
The areas have been hit by record rainfall in the past week, which authorities say has been exacerbated at least in part by climate change.
Four people died in flooding and landslides that left roads closed, cut off communities, and damaged homes, farms and businesses.
Some 15,000 insurance claims have been lodged following what the Government said is the biggest weather disaster in New Zealand to date. So far, 174 of Auckland's flood-damaged homes have been red stickered (meaning uninhabitable) and 779 yellow stickered (restricted access).
“We’re supporting the response and recovery of Auckland, Waikato, Coromandel, Northland, and Bay of Plenty regions, through activating Enhanced Taskforce Green to help with flood relief efforts,” Minister for Social Development and Employment Carmel Sepuloni said today.
Some $500,000 was being made available to provide unskilled and semi-skilled jobs for local people who will support farmers, growers and communities by completing clean-up work on their properties. Funding of $200,000 will be allocated to Rural Support Trusts who know their communities and what is required.
“The main thing that we have to do right now is to support people through this immediate period,” New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said on a visit to Auckland today.
“Of course, the Government is going to continue to look at how best we can support people whose lives have been turned upside down."
Hipkins said the Government would work closely with the insurance sector, and wanted to see as many claims resolved as quickly as possible, "to make sure that people can just get on with the job of cleaning out the damage so that they can actually start the rebuild process".
However, it could take time to work through areas where there were more complex claims, he said, and there were challenges for retail, wholesale, stock loss and underinsurance.
"A complex area for government to step into, so don't want to become an insurer by default, because that creates a whole another set of issues so we'll just work our way through those sorts of issues carefully."
The government would also work with the accommodation sector.
"That includes looking at things like motels as a stopgap measure while people's houses get dried out again and so on. We'll work with our accommodation providers, our emergency accommodation providers, the existing ones that we have, and we are already, I believe, working with potential new providers to provide short-term temporary accommodation while we get things sorted."
He said this would mostly be short-term.
"Where they're red-stickered and significant work needs to be done it may be longer ... there's no one-size-fits-all approach here. In some cases people have got other places they can go - they can stay with extended family or can stay with friends. We'll work through that on a case-by-case basis."
Civil defence payments were available now to deal with people's immediate needs.
"Make sure that you're accessing the support that's available right now to get you through and talk to MSD [Ministry of Social Development] and talk to the other support agencies that might be able to support you through that, including talking to your bank as well.
"Of course, Government is going to continue to look at how best we can support people whose lives have been turned upside down by the flooding."
The funding would help support people on the ground, which includes military and waste contractors.
Government agencies, councils and sector groups will continue to work together to monitor the storm’s impact, and determine where support should be targeted to the greatest need.
In addition to funding announced today, Inland Revenue was set to activate its Adverse Event Income Equalisation Scheme for the affected regions, enabling farming businesses to even out income fluctuations by spreading their gross income from year to year.
The worst of the rain has passed from Auckland, although some showers were expected this afternoon, according to forecaster MetService.
However, rain warnings remain in place for the regions southeast of Auckland.
“Rain falling onto already sodden ground will pool faster and impacts/delays should be expected where heavy rain falls,” meteorologist Lewis Ferris said.
People in Auckland, a city with a population of 1.6 million, are being asked to stay out of the sea and floodwaters due to fears of contamination.
Two hundred high-rise buildings don't have lifts operating, causing challenges for residents, and evacuation centres remain open across the city.
Summers in New Zealand usually bring some rain, but the region is experiencing the La Nina weather system, which can bring much heavier rain to the upper North Island.
- Reuters and RNZ
