Flooding affected most of Auckland on 27 January. Photo: Supplied
The independent review into the performance of Auckland officials in the wake of the January floods has been delayed.
Former police commissioner Mike Bush has been picked to lead the inquiry, which would look into the lead-up, and first 48 hours of the response.
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown announced the review after he himself apologised for being too slow to be seen, and to act, on 27 January, when flooding plagued the city.
The review was an initial budget of $100,000, paid for out of the Mayors' Office's budget.
The public was told the review would be released no later that 6 March, but the recent weather events had changed that.
In a media statement on Monday morning, the mayor's office said the release had been delayed until mid-March.
Mayor Wayne Brown singing a declaration for a state of emergency. Photo: Supplied/ Auckland Council
"The review team was forced to stand-down during Cyclone Gabrielle and the emergency response, and requires additional time," it said.
Bush earlier told RNZ the inquiry would look at the response of flood which includes the period leading up to the event and then overnight and into the following day.
"So it's the performance of everyone involved. Could they have done better? If so what would that look like and we'll be making recommendations around that."
Bush said he had a team which he trusts including members experienced in crisis management, people who ask the right questions and people who are very good at reviewing the performance of organisations.
Team members include Gary Knowles who has recently left his role with the National Emergency Management Agency, Debbie Francis who has considerable experience in performance reviews and Mike Paki who is a senior investigator with the New Zealand police and has been involved in iwi/community relationships with officials.
"You want to get in, understand who did what, when they did it, was it the right thing to do, what were the consequences and report on that," Bush said.
The review panel was completely independent and none of the panel had ever worked with Wayne Brown before, he said.
"We'll be making recommendations on exactly what we see and learn."
Four people died in the flooding. They were 58-year-old Dave Young, 34-year-old Daniel Mark Miller, 25-year-old Daniel Newth and 78-year-old Dave Lennard.