‘I dropped the ball’: Mayor
Mayor Wayne Brown says he ‘‘dropped the ball’’ during Auckland’s flooding last Friday, and has announced the state of emergency in the city is being extended.
Brown had previously drawn criticism when he declared a state of emergency last Friday hours after widespread flooding had already caused chaos in the city.
At least one person had died before Brown signed the state of emergency declaration at 9.27pm, which wasn’t communicated to the public until 10.18pm.
‘‘I dropped the ball on Friday, I was too slow to be seen. The communications weren’t fast enough, including mine. I am sorry.
‘‘The priority now, ahead of the Waitangi long weekend, is to ensure that Aucklanders are safe, well-informed and well-supported.’’
Brown also said the community response had been ‘‘magnificent’’.
‘‘One sign of the fantastic co-operation is that the emergency powers, which I approved on Friday night immediately when advised, have barely needed to be used.’’
The mayor said he was advised at 9am yesterday by Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM), which includes Auckland Emergency Management (AEM) and the National Emergency Management Agency, to extend the state of local emergency.
Brown signed the declaration at 11.30am, and the state of emergency will run for another seven days, to Friday February 10. States of emergency usually expire after seven days, however they can also be extended if the authorised person considers whether the emergency still exists, or the nature of the emergency is moving towards recovery where they may want to consider giving notice of a local transition period.
In some cases, states of emergency can be terminated before the expiry date, such as in Northland and Waitomo this week.
‘‘I hope it continues to be mostly unnecessary for these powers to be used, and urge Aucklanders to continue assisting the emergency services by complying with their instructions voluntarily,’’
Brown said. ‘‘The need for the emergency powers will be continuously reviewed.’’
Brown initially defended himself against criticism, and announced an independent review into the flooding response. ‘‘I don’t think I personally did any wrong, I actually followed the instructions closely,’’ Brown told media on Monday.
The review would look at whether those instructions were fit for purpose, he said. ‘‘The inquiry will look into all aspects, all people, myself included, plus the professionals, plus even the Government’s involvement in the response ... lessons must be learned.’’
A petition has since been set up calling for him to resign, and it had gathered about 25,000 signatures by yesterday.