Auckland pounded by yet more torrential rain
The city has already received 90% of its average rainfall for the year, and more heavy downfalls could be on their way this month.
Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Wednesday, May 10 by Catherine McGregor. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.
In today’s edition: Whaitiri welcome gets Te Pāti Māori leaders kicked out of the House; champion sportswoman apologises for blackface photos; “siloed and ineffective” system within Wellington Council criticised over falling street lamps. But first, a bad case of deja vu for rain-weary Aucklanders.
Flooding in Te Atatu on Tuesday morning (Photo: Ben Gracewood)
More flooding could be around the corner, Aucklanders warned
As Tāmaki Makaurau begins to dry out this morning, many in the city are wondering how many more times they’ll face flooding this year, while others are breathing a sigh of relief that yesterday’s deluge wasn’t worse. The weather warnings have been lifted but the state of emergency remains in place, and there is still a risk that waterways will rise further as groundwater makes its way downhill. Yesterday parts of north Auckland saw torrential downpours of 40-50mm per hour, while Te Pai Park weather station in Henderson recorded 91.5mm of rain by 2pm – to put that into perspective, the city’s average monthly rainfall for the entire month of May is about 115mm. Metservice meteorologist Georgia Griffiths notes that Auckland had already received 90% of its average annual rainfall in the first third of this year, and Niwa forecaster Chris Brandolino thinks the risk of further flooding this autumn is high. “We probably will get another one – I’m not sure if it’ll be like this – but certainly, the odds for heavy rain look to be higher around late May and early June,” he tells the NZ Herald.
Body of missing Whangārei student found
The body of a student missing after being swept away by floodwaters on a school caving trip was recovered late last night. Questions are being raised over Whangārei Boys' High School decision to go ahead with the underground caving expedition when a heavy rain warning was already in place. “The school’s standard operating procedures, posted on its website, stated the teacher in charge of the trip would check the weather periodically during the days leading up to a school trip,” Stuff’s Blair Ensor and Melanie Earley report. “On the morning of the trip [the teacher does] a final weather check so they can make an informed decision whether the weather is suitable for the trip,” the website reads. The class had originally been scheduled to do rock climbing, but the activity was changed to caving due to forecast rain, according to an email to parents obtained by Stuff. School principal Karen Gilbert-Smith has promised “a full and comprehensive investigation” of the circumstances around the trip but says for now their focus is on supporting students and the wider school community.
Firefighters union criticises slow response times from management
Fire and Emergency NZ (Fenz) received more than 300 weather-related calls for help between 8am and 6pm on Tuesday, the vast majority of them in Auckland. Auckland Central MP Chlöe Swarbrick has expressed her concern that frontline firefighters had made a request to stand up a “heavy rescue team” on Monday night, but weren’t given the go-ahead until 10.30am on Tuesday. Firefighters’ Union Auckland secretary Martin Campbell told Stuff he was frustrated that firefighters “constantly have to play catch-up in emergency events”, and that “once again, our teams have been left chasing their tails.” Meanwhile Auckland mayor Wayne Brown arrived home from Sydney last night and will assume responsibility for the state of local emergency, having delegated his powers to deputy Desley Simpson while he was out of the country.
Bay of Plenty rivers to reach warning levels today
Yesterday’s wild weather brought flooding, slips and numerous road closures to the Bay of Plenty, and the regional council says it expects water levels will continue to rise today. The Whakatāne, Rangitāiki, Kaituna, Waioeka and Otara rivers are expected to reach first warning level this morning and several rivers are expected to reach warning level two by the end of the day. Rotorua recorded 65mm of rain between 3pm and 5pm, and power was cut to 1080 properties in the Tauranga suburb of Tauriko for around four hours last night.
The crucial steps to supply fuel in the face of a disaster
The logistics of keeping fuel pumping when key infrastructure is down requires many hands.
As Cyclone Gabrielle's destruction was ongoing, Z Energy worked to find alternative routes to deliver fuel to regions that were cut off, and adjust delivery schedules and plans when the power was out at their Napier terminal.
Read the full story of how Z worked to keep the worst-hit regions fuelled, and the work that goes in to making that process as smooth as possible, on The Spinoff now. (sponsored)
Whaitiri welcome gets Te Pāti Māori leaders kicked out of the House
Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rāwiri Waititi were ejected from the House yesterday after welcoming Labour defector Meka Whaitiri with a waiata for which they had not sought permission, RNZ’s Russell Palmer reports. Rurawahe also clashed with Whaitiri over her explanation to the House of why she had left Labour. “She carried on speaking about her whānau and upbringing, but was interrupted by Rurawhe, who said a personal explanation of this sort was meant to explain "about something in the House… it’s not about giving a speech”, Palmer writes.
Afterwards Waititi told reporters Parliament “is not a safe place for our people. Hence why we do things our way and make sure they're looked after.” National’s Chris Bishop said Te Pāti Māori were grandstanding. “Meka Whaitiri is a member of Parliament, she could have just entered the debating chamber like the other 119 MPs did this afternoon… I think they know exactly what they're doing, they're trying to get attention for them.”
Champion sportswoman ‘apologetic’ after being photographed in blackface
Rural sportswoman of the year Megan Whitehead has apologised after sharing photos to social media of herself and friends in blackface, The Spinoff’s Stewart Sowman-Lund reports. In the photos Whitehead, a champion sheep shearer, and her friends can be seen in “black faces, faux dreadlocks and wearing clothing with the colours of the Jamaican flag”, with one holding a fake oversized joint. It’s understood the photos remained up on Facebook for a day before being deleted. Whitehead has not spoken publicly since, but in a joint statement Steve Hollander, founder of the New Zealand Rural Sports Awards, and Sir David Fagan, president of Shearing Sports New Zealand, said Whitehead was “embarrassed and apologetic for the pain caused by her actions”.
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‘Siloed’ system within Wellington Council to blame for falling street lamps delay – report
A "siloed and ineffective" system within Wellington City Council meant that dangerous street lamps in the city were left unaddressed for years, an internal review has found. “Sixteen street lamps crashed to the ground around Wellington between 2019 and 2023, including one that fell onto an empty parked car and three that fell onto footpaths,” reports Stuff’s Tom Hunt. “However, the message did not make it to senior council management until a Stuff article in February.” Escalation of identified risks was “by word of mouth and only made to immediate managers”, meaning a message had to pass through three separate managers to get from the frontline to the chief infrastructure officer, the report found. The falling faulty street lights were installed in 2018 and weigh about 15 kg. "They are great heavy things," said former city councillor Chris Calvi-Freeman, who first alerted Stuff to the issue. “They will just kill you.”
Click and collect
Andrew Hoggard has confirmed his intention to stand for Act in the Rangitikei seat after stepping down as Federated Farmers president on Monday.
A group of activist lawyers are back in the High Court, having filed a new legal action against the government for acting against the advice of the Climate Change Commission last year, Newsroom reports.
Governor-general Dame Cindy Kiro says lessons have been learnt following Phil Goff’s breach of tikanga at an event marking King Charles' coronation last week.
Kiri Allan says RNZ would be “more than welcome” to release the full transcript of her speech, in which she criticised the public broadcaster's treatment of Māori staff.
Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news? Get in touch with me at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz.
If you liked what you read today, share The Bulletin with friends, family and colleagues.
Alex Casey tries to get to the bottom of the "book unfair" in Christchurch after book dealers were given early access to the popular Bookarama sale. Two perspectives on flooding: a renter whose home was damaged in the January floods checks in with a Cost of Being column, and Tara Ward and Alex Casey have everything you need to know about the state of emergency declared in Auckland yesterday. Tara Ward watches King Charles's coronation concert so that you don't have to. And Jonathan Killick remembers night-soil men, Auckland's forgotten shit-shovellers.
Sporting snippets
One NZ CEO Jason Paris’s raging about NRL referee decisions might be the smartest politicking anyone associated with the Warriors has done for years, says Dylan Cleaver.
Meanwhile Warriors coach Andrew Webster says nobody at the club believes refs are going out of their way to purposely stop the team winning games.
Former Tall Black Alex Pledger will return to the basketball court at the end of the month, two years after being diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
Elizabeth Holmes wants you to call her ‘Liz’
Years after she conned the world, has Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes managed to get one over on another journalist? Amy Chozick’s big profile of the blood-testing fraudster in the New York Times this weekend has been widely criticised as a puff piece, an attempt to launder Holmes’ reputation as she gets ready to start serving her 11 year prison sentence. Even her own editor accuses Chozick of getting “rolled” by Holmes (Chozick puts this in the story). You can decide for yourself by reading the NYT original or the syndicated version on Herald Premium (both paywalled).
