PM views damage from killer tornado
Ardern praises community for pulling together
Almost a week after a tornado tore a path of destruction through Papatoetoe, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern visited those left to pick up the pieces.
Ardern walked down Hayward Rd in the Auckland suburb, where skips full of debris from the tornado lined the side of the road.
Last Saturday’s tornado damaged 251 homes leaving 22 uninhabitable and 60 others so badly damaged they have been deemed dangerous enough to have restricted entry.
The force of the tornado also killed engineer Janesh Prasad, who was repairing a forklift at the Ports of Auckland freight hub in Wiri when the tornado ripped through.
It is understood the father-of-two died after being thrown a distance and hitting a solid object.
The Prime Minister met Auckland Council emergency management staff and first responders.
She noted how much clean-up had already been done and said that came down to the local community rallying around each other, emergency services and the council.
She said she was very pleased to hear of some insurers waiving $5000 excess fees for those hit by the tornado.
Mayor Phil Goff said 205 applications had already been made to the Ministry of Social Development’s Disaster Relief Fund.
Nine applications to the Mayoral Relief Fund have been confirmed, with 17 more in the pipeline. He said the Government had offered to top up the $200,000 fund if needed.
There were 93 people in emergency accommodation, largely in motels. From next week they would try to move people to longer-term housing.
Families whose homes have been red-stickered will be given assistance to find alternative accommodation.
On Tuesday, the Otara-Papatoetoe Local Board will meet to consider allocating up to $60,000 to support the victims of the tornado.
The money had been tagged for community grants, reducing harm from alcohol, Maori responsiveness and a sustainable schools project, and otherwise would have been returned to the council as savings.
Staff have recommended adding it to the Mayoral Relief Fund.
Goff said a strong police presence stayed in the neighbourhood to try to prevent looting, although there was no evidence that it had been a significant problem.
He described developers’ offers to buy damaged homes in the days after the natural disaster as insensitive and inappropriate.
The tornado ripped roofs off dozens of houses, blew out the windows of many, tipped trucks and cars upside down, uprooted trees, sent trampolines flying through yards and brought down power lines.
About 1200 homes were left without power for the day.