Damage in Muriwai. Photo: Maria Koppens
A shortage in geotech engineers across the country has hampered efforts to address insurance claims from Aucklanders, nine weeks after Cyclone Gabrielle.
Muriwai residents with red-stickered houses want a timeframe for resolution, many fearing their insurance cover will run out before the council completes geotechnical assessments.
The shortage of engineers even means some people in Nelson are still waiting for resolution after the city's floods almost nine months ago.
RNZ visited Muriwai, where red-stickered resident Caroline Bell-Booth was looking for answers.
"Like many in Muriwai, we were evacuated on the night. We've lost friends. We've lost our home. There's a landslip that fell from council land and has now settled itself in against our house.
"Financially, where we sit in terms of what our future may be, I have no more knowledge now than I did on say, the 15th of February."
Like many others, Bell-Booth and her husband are now renting alternative accommodation but still have a mortgage on a house they can't live in.
"There has been absolutely no support from any of the banks. The greatest support that they can offer you is called a mortgage holiday.
"I'd say that's more a mortgage punitive trip to hell, because what happens is you still have to repay your mortgage on the same date, but after 90 days of a break you then pay at an accelerated rate."
Down the road, RNZ met red-stickered resident Kat, who was in the process of managed access - a four-hour slot where a geotech engineer supervises families to recover items from their damaged homes.
Kat's family had a moving truck out the front, packing up what was salvageable. She walked RNZ through her destroyed home, past dirty dishes from dinner on the evening of Cyclone Gabrielle.
Outside, an enormous slip loomed above her house, where tall cliffs had given way to a sea of clay and dirt.
Muriwai resident Kat Corbett stands beneath the slip above her red-stickered house. Photo: Leonard Powell / RNZ
They were now renting another property nearby, whilst figuring out what to do next. Because of the clear damage to their property, they had been able to access some insurance.
The story was different further along Motutara Road for Maria Koppens and Abe Dew. The council red-stickered their property, deeming it uninhabitable, but insurance had been a nightmare.
"We were in touch with our insurance company not long after [the cyclone] and were quite shocked to learn that because our house is undamaged, we're not insured. Our housing contents policy doesn't cover us for the damage that's occurred to our land.
"We have a big slip on one side which destroyed our neighbour's house, another slip on the other side of the house and another slip above our house.
"None of us feel safe to come back. My daughter's quite traumatised by the whole situation."
Around 139 properties in Muriwai are uninhabitable. Maria wanted to see some action from the council, which she said had been unclear with its timeframes.
"What we're asking for is a rapid resolution from council and some assistance from government in the meantime to bridge the gap between the insurance payments and when council can resolve our issue."
Damage in Muriwai. Photo: Maria Koppens
Auckland Council's explanation
Ross Roberts, head of engineering and resilience at the Auckland Council, said there is a nationwide shortage of geotechnical engineers.
"One of the real challenges we have is making sure that we use the people who are available as efficiently as possible.
"There's not enough geotechnical engineers in New Zealand to deal with all of the problems that New Zealand as a whole is facing right now. People are still clearing up after the Nelson damage that was happening last year, so there's going to be a real shortage and there will be for some time.
"We're just going to make sure that we use people as efficiently as we can and try and get the highest priority sites done first."
Charlotte Reynolds has lived in Muriwai for 18 years. Her house was also red-stickered. She is now flatting with her child, and was looking for an indication from the council and insurance company for what to do next.
"I've paid a premium for the 18 years that I've owned my home. At the end of the day, I'm not sure whether I'm going to be walking away with $10 or $100, which makes a real big difference in terms of, where do I start to look to regroup my life?
"Am I moving to somewhere completely uninhabited? Or can I stay in Auckland? Do I have to disrupt my child's schooling? Or do I have some choices?
"That's really hard to get when there is minimal communication coming from the insurance companies.
"Are we talking August? Are we talking November? The difficulty is that many people are on a temporary accommodation supplement from their insurance company, which is fantastic, but that will run out. If you've got no planning, it makes it really hard to put any plans in place. Any road is a good road if you've got nowhere to go. You actually need a road map, and that's what we need some clarification on."
Damage in Muriwai. Photo: Leonard Powell / RNZ
Roberts said while Muriwai had the most damaged homes in the region, his team was completing working on sites across the entire city, adding to delays.
"It's a huge job. Although the Muriwai community has been hit terribly hard, and we put out a huge amount of focus on that, there are lots of other communities around Auckland that have been hit really badly as well. We have to make sure they are dealt with in the same way, so there's a lot of work across the whole region."
Roberts was confident assessments will finish in August. He said more details will be coming in a newsletter to residents later this week.
