From Auckland’s floodwaters of devastation, heroes and acts of kindness emerge

A sleeping toddler evacuated through a window. An elderly woman rescued from her house by lifeguards. A digger driver named Dug who saved people’s homes.

Amidst the widespread devastation and heartbreaking tragedies stemming from an unprecedented rainfall, stories of bravery and kindness are emerging from flood-stricken Auckland.

In the hours before the city’s mayor Wayne Brown declared a state of emergency on Friday night, 79 people were rescued by surf lifesavers, who were described by their boss “as a wonderful bunch of heroes”.

“All those who worked last night still have their lives to clean up today,” Matt Williams, head of the region’s surf live saving group, said on Saturday.

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“And because of them there are 79 people who made it through and are also able to rebuild in the morning.”

While officials face criticism about both a lack of communication and delay in declaring an emergency, other Aucklanders just got on with the job, helping themselves and their community.

Muriwai SAR squad co-ordinator Glenn Gowthorpe said a 3-year-old boy sleeping on a couch floating in a flooded Kumeū home remained blissfully unaware of his rescue, which included a boat ride through pitch-black waters.

“He only woke up when we handed him over to the emergency services. There was clapping and cheers.”

A second rescue at a nearby property saw an 80-year-old woman evacuated from the second storey of her house to a rescue boat waiting on the storey below. Rescuers described the scenes as “Orwellian”.

Earlier in the night, as Natasha McKnight and her Pukekohe neighbours desperately dug trenches around their homes, Dugmore Mango arrived out of the darkness hauling a digger behind his ute.

Mango was on his way home after checking whether his in-laws needed any help and, without hesitation, pulled over in the floodwaters, unloaded his digger and got to work.

“I just saw people that were struggling and digging with shovels, so I pulled over to help,” he said on Saturday. “It would’ve been heartless to just drive by, you can’t do that as a human being.”

Dugmore managed to divert water away from McKnight’s property until it stopped raining as heavily: “He was our hero,” she said.

Rachel Mario of the Mt Roskill Whanau Community Hub was heading out on her regular Friday delivery of food boxes when the floodwaters forced her to turn around. Not long after, her phone started ringing.

“We started getting calls from people needing a place to stay; it was a bit of a shock.”

Eventually, about 20 people spent the night at the centre, sleeping on mats and blankets from its supplies and making use of the undelivered food boxes.

On Saturday morning some of the displaced people had left while others were still arriving. A few women with “domestic issues” had turned up looking for a safe place to shelter from not just the water but the human danger in their homes.

“I’d like to let everyone know that whenever someone needs help that’s what we’re here for.”

But while the tales of kindness and community spirit are a little ray of sunlight, the extent of the disaster’s toll is still unknown.

Three deaths had been confirmed by Saturday night after two men two men died in separate flooding incidents and a person was found dead after a landslide brought down a house in Remuera. A fourth person remains missing after being swept away in waters at Onewhero.

Fire crews responded to 719 weather incidents, answered 2242 emergency calls, and made 126 rescues on Friday and in the early hours of Saturday. By the afternoon the service was still working through a backlog of about 1355 less urgent 111 calls from overnight, contacting callers to see whether they still need assistance.

In one of the hardest-hit areas of the city, residents of Kāinga Ora homes on Clover Drive, Henderson had their homes swamped and left practically unliveable by water, mud and debris.

West Auckland residents Safunga and Seve Uatea were forced to swim from their property on Friday afternoon, battling against the flow of water by pulling themselves along by fence posts.

On Saturday morning Safunga was picking through his possessions while at the back of the house, a silver hatchback was balanced at a precarious angle having been swept in from the road earlier on.

Their house is caked in mud and marks from water stretching nearly 2 metres up on walls, yet by 2pm on Saturday they were still to hear from Kāinga Ora.

“We are trying to get some good stuff, put it in a bag and leave.”

Further along the same road, Lina Anderson was also yet to hear from the agency though was remaining on hold despite the water and mud in her soaked house.

As well as leaving her fridge and freezer broken, the flood swept away her children’s favourite toys, school uniforms and iPad.

“I was prepared but now it is all gone. It was very scary. The water rises up so quick. You try to get your kids out in such a panic. When I tried to get out the water is already near my neck, but I am short.”

Kāinga Ora deputy chief executive John Tubberty said the agency had received more than 100 calls overnight and about 250 to midday on Saturday.

“We’re aware of several properties which are badly damaged, but at this stage it is too early to give a definitive count of homes which are damaged, or unable to be occupied.”

In West Auckland, some residents were still without water on Saturday afternoon, as exhausted travellers prepared to spend another night at the city’s airport amid mass cancellations.

Matt and Jess – who is seven months pregnant – had spent 24 hours trying to get home to the UK with their three-year-old daughter, Willow. After spending Friday night in an airport lounge, airport security with dogs kicked them out and back into the departure hall, Matt said.

”We have nowhere to go. We can’t find a hotel that has beds, so are looking into going to one of the defence shelters.”

Another stranded traveller, Sera Bostan was desperate to get her family home after her mother, Ahar, slipped in the rain on Friday night and broke her knee.

Having spent the night in hospital, the family of four need to return to Turkey so Ahar can undergo emergency surgery. If she has the surgery in New Zealand, she will be unable to travel for at least two weeks; the family was meant to fly out on Friday evening.

“I just want to go home now,” Ahar said.

And while the floods have left humans experiencing devastating grief, sickening uncertainty and unimaginable loss, animals are also suffering.

As terrified domestic pets were caught up in the deluge, some were taken in by strangers, while Milford resident Sami Thompson battled chest-deep waters as she carried her 20kg border collie to safety.

“The current was so strong, the water was so gross. It was terrifying,” she said.

Laura Schwerdtfeger​, director and veterinarian of The Lifestyle Vet, expected there would be hundreds of animals in need of medical care after the flooding.

Her Waimauku-based clinic had been busy fielding calls most of Saturday morning and seeing to some animals being brought in – including a sheep found five metres up a tree after floodwaters receded. The rest of the flock died.

And in Waimauku, Jordan Clark​ and a quartet of mates attempted a rescue of about 20 sheep left on rapidly shrinking higher ground in a neighbour’s paddock.

As the ground ”kept disappearing and getting smaller and smaller” the friends pulled two kayaks out, with two helping to offload them and another helping pull the waterlogged sheep onto the vessels.

“It felt like the right thing to do.”

Meanwhile, volunteers at the Middlemore Foundation had been busy delivering pyjamas, toys, hygiene packs and vouchers, to communities in South Auckland, to ensure families were kept “safe, housed and healthy”.

A spokesperson on Sunday said its emergency stock was almost depleted, and urged the public to donate, “so we can continue supporting our vulnerable communities”.

In West Auckland’s Oratia​, locals have created a disaster response page where people can crowdsource damages around the neighbourhood and provide support where possible.

Others delivered packed lunches to families doing clean-up on the worst-hit street in their neighbourhoods.