Auckland floods: Interactive flood map tracks damage from deluge

Author: Julia Gabel and Chris Knox,
Publish Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2023, 2:40pm

Aucklanders have spent another day battling floodwaters after an early-morning deluge caused widespread flooding that crept into people’s homes, closed key roads preventing many from getting to work, caused power outages and submerged vehicles.

From early Wednesday morning, downpours of 20-40mm per hour were recorded across Auckland, well above the 6mm per hour that MetService considers “heavy” rain. This morning’s deluge started around 3am and the heaviest rain was between 4-7am.

The Herald has created an interactive map to track the damage caused by the morning’s downpour in Auckland. It shows flooding incidents reported to the Herald and Newstalk ZB since 4am this morning. The map displays the time the flooding was reported to the newsroom.

The map is not an exhaustive list of flooding reports across Auckland. Earlier instances of flooding are likely to have receded since they were first reported.

‌Across the region, homes have flooded, trees have fallen onto houses and powerlines, and slips have put more properties in danger. Auckland’s Tamaki Drive is blocked by a massive slip and the Okahu Bay cemetery has been swamped with floodwaters.

MetService meteorologist Karl Loots said although the next bout of heavy rain was not expected until Sunday, it would not take much rain to cause further surface flooding in Auckland after the five days of unprecedented weather in the region.

“It might not take much to set things off.”

Following this morning’s flooding, Auckland Emergency Management opened four additional community and information centres staffed by government welfare and support services. They will operate from 9am to 5pm daily until further notice.

These additional centres are: