Unequal destruction: Crisis for whānau

Auckland’s floods have had very different consequences, upending the lives of many of the city’s most vulnerable families while life continues as normal in many wealthy neighbourhoods.

Māngere is still in crisis mode. The flooding that hit Auckland caused chaos but it is most severely felt in places like Māngere and Ranui – home to diverse communities and some of the most vulnerable as well. Now, as much of the city moves on, community groups in Māngere are going door to door. They have found homes with 20 people living in them, as families are forced to move in with neighbours and relatives after their own homes were flooded.

On Saturday, Auckland mayor Wayne Brown described the rainstorm as a ‘‘complex’’ phenomenon. ‘‘For some people, it was a very focused, dreadful, sudden storm. For other people it was a night of rain,’’ Brown said.

That wide disparity has continued through the emergency response and cleanup as well.

Harriet Pauga works at Te Whatu Ora, Health New Zealand, as its northern director for Pasifika health. But over the weekend, she became a DIY crisis response manager for Māngere.

‘‘We wanted to see what the Civil Defence was doing and what Auckland Emergency Management were doing. But there wasn’t anything,’’ she said. Pauga said the flooding was having a major impact on lower income whānau, in part because the houses had more people living in them. State houses and affordable housing were also more likely to be on flood prone land. She said many families had been living in garages, which flooded more easily. Elderly tenants, disabled people and pensioners were also more likely to live in these homes, she said.

With other community leaders, including Auckland councillor Alf