Opinion: Every home needs a disaster response plan – Auckland Council boss

THREE KEY FACTS
Phil Wilson is Auckland Council’s chief executive and has led response, review and recovery programmes since the severe weather events of early 2023.
OPINION
On the evening of Friday, January 27 last year, the skies opened above Tāmaki Makaurau and unleashed the most devastating volume and intensity of rain this region has perhaps ever seen.
A little over two weeks later Mother Nature again wreaked havoc on our region in the form of Cyclone Gabrielle, causing more flooding and destructive landslides. Many Aucklanders are still recovering from those events. Some never will.
Last year was incredibly challenging and it was important to me that Auckland Council had a good, honest look at how we did, and how well-prepared we are. We have done that. Several internal and independent reviews, including one by the Office of the Auditor General, found us wanting in some areas and resulted in an ambitious remedial work programme.
This week offered up an important milestone in our journey. Yesterday a report was tabled in Parliament that largely brought to a close the substantive corrective actions set for us, and by us, after those severe weather events. I’m pleased to say we are doing okay; the assurance provided in the Auditor General’s report is a welcome relief.
But we can’t take our foot off the pedal – the risk is too high. With complex and difficult recovery efforts continuing, the work is by no means over and we are acutely aware that our communities continue to suffer.
Our recovery efforts have secured in excess of $2 billion, including Government and partner agency grants, for resilience projects and buyouts. We have completed 273 buyouts, which is nearly one-third of the approximately 900 eligible for full buyout. Recovery is harrowing for communities, homeowners and our team and I empathise with everyone who continues to be affected.
Our council, through the leadership of the mayor, councillors and all of our local representatives, has supported a significant increase in funding for our emergency management function and resilience projects.
Without their preparedness to make tough decisions and trade-offs, we would not have been able to deliver such a comprehensive programme in a little over a year.
The first major flood reduction project is now under way in Māngere, where $53 million of council and Government investment will bolster the Te Ararata and Harania catchments’ ability to cope with high volumes of floodwater, decreasing risk to those heavily impacted communities.
Our teams have worked with focus and pace to deliver this work and to put a clear pathway of continuous improvement in front of us. I’m incredibly proud of their efforts and how they’ve worked with partners across the emergency services network and in central Government.
People ask what keeps me awake at night, and at the top of my list are these increasingly severe weather events and our preparedness.
My priority has been programmes that deliver community planning and preparedness; well-stocked evacuation centres; better warning and communications systems and effective leadership.
People from across the council group and partner agencies have collectively completed 593 training modules to be response-ready; we have boosted the Auckland Emergency Management (AEM) budget by $4.8m to deliver on our group plan and fund resilience and readiness programmes, with more to come in future years; and we’re working our way through readiness and response plans with our 21 local boards.
We also have programmes focused on supporting marae, businesses, youth, people with disabilities, seniors and culturally and linguistically diverse communities in emergency readiness activities.
We do not and will not shirk from the central role AEM and the council need to play, but event after event shows us that as critical as our preparations are, we are not the only answer.
Every household in Tāmaki Makaurau needs to have a plan.
For evacuation in an emergency; for checking drains and flow paths on their property; and for knowing and checking on their neighbours – in other words, we need a whole-of-community response.
If you haven’t already, check your risk on Auckland Council’s Flood Viewer and use the many guides available on Auckland Emergency Management’s website to put that plan in place for your home and whānau.
Just last week the Herald published scientists’ views on the risk of more significant rainfall events because of climate change and the changing nature of cyclone systems across the Pacific. Those rainfall events will again be very challenging, and it will take all our resources and emergency services to respond.
Finally, Tāmaki Makaurau has considerable longer-term work to do to become more flood and weather-resilient.
We have homes in the wrong place, floor levels that need to be raised, infrastructure to build, and planning rules to change.
That will be confronting and expensive and is a situation being faced by communities the world over.
We’re up for this conversation and I look forward to sharing my thoughts on this with Aucklanders.