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Sandringham residents, businesses and community groups continue to rebuild following last month’s deluge.

Ahead of Auckland Council’s Big Clean Up, residents have been waiting for rubbish skips “for days now” in Haig Ave, Parrish St and Lambeth St.

Jewellery store owner Harish Lodhia is still collecting debris following Friday 27 January’s severe flooding.

Lodhia has run Sona Sansaar on Stoddard Rd, Mount Roskill for the last 14 years.

“When we heard about the heavy downpour, I was quite concerned that the council would not have cleared the creek at the back,” he said.

“Because they did not empty or clean out the debris sitting there, all the water rose and came into our carpark, so the carpark was underwater.”

He said the flooding destroyed about five cars in the carpark before severely damaging the basement floor of the property.

The carpark at Sona Sansaar, Stoddard Rd, Friday 27 January. Photo / Harish Lodhia

Lodhia’s downstairs tenants included Imperial Vaults and the New Zealand Ethnic Women’s Trust.

“The ethnic women’s group has a food distribution centre and a sewing school. All their sewing machines, all their furniture, all got destroyed,” he said.

“All their food was destroyed. The flour, the sugar, the tea, the noodles, the oil, everything. Toilet paper, diapers, baby food … So they had to throw all that away.”

Ethnic Women’s Trust director Fadumo Ahmed said volunteers are still collecting debris from the site.

“Everything is gone. Our material, what we sourced over 23 years, gone in one day,” Ahmed said.

The trust, which provides food and essentials as well as sewing, computer and business classes to local families, has now been left without teaching resources or supplies for over 3500 women in the community.

Ahmed said about 20 sewing machines ready for use in the new school term have been destroyed by flood damage, along with all of the group’s computer equipment.

“Our computers are gone, which we have for computer classes. Even the internet is cut off, so it’s hard to even contact the people,” she said.

Ahmed said the group has about 20 part-time employees who cover 14 languages for families settling in Aotearoa.

“It cost maybe more than $50,000, and we are not insured,” she said.

“We can’t give up because they are waiting for us and it’s our challenge.”

She said the group is urgently looking for a new location, “The main thing is if we have a space, maybe we can get back our programmes and the people that are waiting for us. Not only the families [we assist], it looks like even our staff have become homeless.

“We can’t go back because it is gone. Everything has a smell. The safety and health is not good. Everything is mouldy.”

Lodhia said, “I was quite fortunate that Red’s group of volunteers - kids, women and men - all came and helped us clear our rubbish.

“God bless them. They did a wonderful job.”

Red Tsounga was a candidate in last year’s Albert-Eden and Puketapapa Ward and co-ordinated the emergency response for the area after seeing surface flooding on Haverstock Rd at around 6pm Friday night.

Using traffic cones to stop locals from entering the deluge, Tsounga said he had to alert residents that the street was unsafe.

By 9pm, he said the flooding had covered the whole street and extended to the wider suburb.

“We had to go through another street to check the entrance of Haverstock St, near Rose Cottage Superette,” Tsounga said.

“As I looked on my left, there was a house that was getting flooded. The water was coming in the house at high speed, and there was a family inside.

“I went in there and told them, ‘Hey, you have to leave. You have to get out now.’”

Tsounga said many families faced a similar situation, with elderly community members confined to their homes without access to internet and devices.

Red Tsounga co-ordinated volunteers and relief efforts in West Auckland following severe flooding on January 27. Photo / Supplied

Lodhia said, “A lot of this damage could have been avoided. If only everybody was pulling their own weight. If the council did what they were supposed to do, we wouldn’t be seeing this disaster.”

He said infrastructure has not kept up with development in the area, with “a hotel, the Warehouse, Countdown, New World and a lot of housing” coming to the area in a short time.

Lodhia added he has not heard from Auckland Council regarding flood damage or relief.

Tsounga said appointing a Minister of Auckland will help with emergency responses in the future.

“I believe it’s a good thing that’s going to help Auckland in a situation like this to provide a co-ordinated response,” he said.

Volunteers delivered food and groceries to residents affected. Photo / Supplied

He said that while the community is resilient, they have “lost everything”.

Families in some emergency housing don’t have access to kitchens or food, Tsounga said, so are in need of meals and donations. He said many affected were also uninsured.

“Those who lost everything, those who didn’t have insurance, who’s going to help them? How are they going to get back everything they’ve lost?

“The support is temporary support now with food and things like that, but those have lost their homes with the uncertainty that they can go back.”

Auckland Council Head of Planning Nick Vigar said, “It is not possible to design a stormwater network to cope with an event this size – the network is designed for day-to-day rain or average rainfall. The Sandringham area is also subject to high groundwater levels which can compound issues.”

He said, “Our key advice for people in this area and around greater Auckland is to use this period of settled weather to clean up as much as possible and to prepare for the possible impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle.

“We will be providing further preparation advice for the community from today and we ask everyone to keep an eye on the Auckland Emergency Management website and social media channels for regular updates,” Vigar said.

Tsounga said this adds to pressure on families in Auckland already dealing with an ongoing housing crisis.

“It’s going to cost a lot of money for some families of low income who did not have insurance,” he said.

Tsounga and his team are continuing to rally support to get the community back on its feet, meeting at Mount Roskill’s Whanau Community Centre and Hub on Stoddard Rd.

“If anyone can help or support in any way, get in touch. Any way they can support, even donating food or to come in and making time to just volunteer, get in touch.”

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