Rubbish trucks arrive, schools begin to reopen
Rubbish trucks have finally arrived in a flood-hit suburb to clear the waste from Friday’s deluge.
Almost a week after the recordsetting Auckland rainfalls since January 27, residents have been able to get into their water-logged homes and get sodden furniture and personal items out.
About 9am yesterday, two rubbish trucks arrived at Shackleton Rd, Mt Eden, and began to clear the rubbish lining the road, as well as some four metal skip bins and five overflowing flexi-waste bags.
And the 10 rubbish crewmen were not alone – a Shackleton Rd resident mucked in to help.
The resident said his street was flooded up to his chest on Friday evening and he lost his car in the deluge. In 18 years in Mt Eden, he had never seen anything like the weekend’s deluge, he said.
The street smelled damp and musty yesterday, even as the sun started to come out, and there were insects swarming on the piles of rubbish.
Mattresses, chairs, cupboards, plastic and rolls of sodden carpet were piled high on the berms.
Shackleton Rd was severely impacted by the floods. Most homes in the centre of the 1km street have yellow, red and white stickers, meaning there is a range of damage levels.
Resident Samantha Longley’s home fared OK but her car was completely flooded during the rain, so she couldn’t leave the street for higher ground.
She told Stuff she had no choice but to sit and watch the waters get closer to her and her flatmate, as they hunkered down.
The flooding got so bad a campervan practically exploded from being so full of water and a fire truck responding to calls for help got stuck, she said.
Schools reopen
Parents across Auckland said they were relieved as schools started to open their doors for the first time since the floods.
The Ministry of Education originally announced schools would be closed for a week for safety reasons after Tāmaki Makaurau was inundated on Friday evening and Wednesday morning. However, it later said
schools could reopen from midday Wednesday onwards.
Natalie O’Brien was happy to be dropping both her children off at Cornwall Park District School yesterday morning.
The initial school closure announcement meant it was going to be a struggle juggling work as both parents worked fulltime, she said. ‘‘We were going to have to take turns taking time off,’’ she said. Both of her children were excited to be back, with her little girl running off ahead, straight into school, O’Brien said.
They were a bit bored by the end, she said: ‘‘The kids are just stoked to be starting the new year.’’