Inquest into Cyclone Gabrielle and Auckland Anniversary flooding deaths gets underway

RNZ News

12 hours ago

Flooding on Candia Road in Henderson Valley, west Auckland on 27 January 2023.
Photo:
Supplied
The timeliness and effectiveness of weather warnings and the emergency response to the Auckland Anniversary floods and Cyclone Gabrielle will come under scrutiny in a coroner's inquest that gets underway in Auckland on Monday.
The inquest will look into the 18 weather-related fatalities in the Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle in early 2023, including three men who died in the months following the weather events.
The hearings are set down for about six weeks - with phase one taking place in Auckland between late June and August, and phase two in Hastings between October and November.
The Auckland part of the inquest will focus on the deaths of the four men who died during
the Auckland Anniversary floods
, and
the two firefighters who died in Muriwai during Cyclone Gabrielle
.
Daniel Miller, 34, was helping rescue others in the severely flooded Wairau Valley in Auckland's North Shore, and was later found dead in a culvert on Target Road.
Daniel Newth, 25, was
swept into the Wairau Valley
while kayaking in floodwaters.
David Lennard, 78, died after his Remuera home was destroyed in a landslide.
Dave Young, 58, was swept away in floodwaters in the rural Waikato town of Onewhero.
Two volunteer Muriwai firefighters, Craig Stevens and Dave van Zwanenberg, died in a landslide two weeks following the floods - during Cyclone Gabrielle - after they were critically injured when attending a major slip callout.
A ruling
by Coroner Erin Woolley on the scope of the inquest said she would be examining what warnings were issued to the public about the dangers of the flood waters at the time, and whether they were timely, complete and adequate.
She said she would look into important issues raised by Young's family - which is the messaging for people living in areas near the border between different local authorities or Civil Defence Emergency Management groups, as well as the availability of search and rescue resources on the ground.
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown's handling of the flooding came in for heavy criticism.
Photo:
RNZ/Angus Dreaver
Woolley will also inquire about whether
the emergency response in Auckland was adequate and well-coordinated
.
The authorities' knowledge of the risks of landslides at Shore Road in Remuera and Muriwai before the weather events will also be examined. Woolley said she will be inquiring whether any parties should have taken actions to address those risks.
Woolley acknowledged that both Fire and Emergency and WorkSafe had completed investigations on the circumstances around the deaths of Van Zwanenberg and Stevens, however she said both investigations were limited in the evidence from witnesses.
She added that she would look into whether it was appropriate for emergency responders to be doing work in areas at risk of landslides during Cyclone Gabrielle.
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