One of the land slips that has forced evacuations and red or yellow stickered homes at Muriwai. Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro
Some Muriwai residents are bringing in their own experts, saying they are sick of Auckland Council stonewalling them.
It comes as the council cancels a drop-in session for residents planned for Wednesday evening.
The session was meant to provide an opportunity for people to discuss their individual properties with experts.
"After conversations with the community, it became clear the level of information we currently hold would not enable us to answer many of the specific questions that affected property holders have," Auckland Emergency Management deputy recovery manager Mace Ward said.
"We are in the process of informing residents of this decision, the reason behind it and of the planned next steps.
"We remain committed to keeping residents informed and an update has been sent to them [Tuesday] afternoon, with further communications planned for the coming days."
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Muriwai resident Caroline Bell-Booth said she received a call from the council on Tuesday afternoon, informing her the meeting had been cancelled due to a lack of information.
"I asked what information was lacking and the representative did not know," Bell-Booth said.
"I asked when the information was expected and the representative did not know," she said.
"I asked if the council was aware that the tenuous trust our community had in them had been severed at the last meeting. The representative said the council was aware.
"I asked if the council was aware that people's mental health was being significantly affected and, in my opinion, lives would start to be at risk.
"I explained that uncertainty is very similar to hopelessness.
"I asked the representative to pass on my grave concerns for the mental well-being of our traumatised community.
"She said she would voice this in her capacity."
Hundreds of residents of the cyclone-hit Auckland suburb of Muriwai packed into the local golf club to meet with council staff last week. Photo: RNZ / Felix Walton
On Monday, the council's head of engineering resilience said some Muriwai residents might have to wait more than six months to find out if they could return to their homes.
In the meantime, some were taking matters into their own hands.
Until recently, Abe Dew lived at the top of Motutara Road. But when the cyclone hit three weeks ago, a landslide destroyed his neighbour's property, trapping two local firefighters within it.
"Quite a portion of our land was also torn off the side of the cliff," Dew said.
Still, he considered himself lucky; after evacuating his home, he was quickly offered another place to stay in Muriwai.
Keeping close to home meant he was able to keep tabs on any new information, although he said the council's updates were few and far between.
He was now pursuing a rental property, but with a minimum contract of one year, it was a tough financial commitment to make.
A house hit by a landslide in Muriwai. Photo: RNZ / Tom Taylor
Last week, Auckland Council confirmed it would not charge late fees for overdue rates from red-stickered homeowners.
Dew said this money would be put to good use.
"Cashflow's an issue right now, because we're suddenly having to find a bond for a $800-900-a -week rental property," he said.
"We're talking about 4000 bucks out of thin air."
But Dew was not waiting around for the council to tell him the fate of his home.
Instead, he had set up a meeting with a geotechnical engineer whom he hoped would be able to provide more answers.
"We can't afford to sit on our hands and wait for answers to come from council," Dew said.
"We may as well approach them and our insurance companies and say, 'Listen, this is what we've discovered, what does this mean? You tell us'."
Auckland Council engineering resilience head Ross Roberts said for Muriwai residents closest to the cliff face, it might be more than six months before they knew whether they would be able to return to their homes.
For those set further back, the wait could be shorter.
"The ones further away from the slope, we're likely to be able to get a good idea within a month or two," Roberts said.
"The ones very close to the slope could well take longer than that. It really does depend on how those slopes respond to changes over the next month or two."
A large landslide threatens houses in the coastal suburb of Muriwai following Cyclone Gabrielle on 14 February, 2023. Photo: Getty Images / Phil Walter
At the bottom of the hill, Domain Crescent had become an exclusion zone, with geotechnical experts advising the area was too dangerous to access.
Jane Scott's home was in this zone, but as it was set further back from the cliff face, she was receiving Roberts' guidance with cautious optimism.
"I'm not close to the slip so I might be okay with my house, fingers crossed," she said.
"I'm certainly not ready to give up on our community. Some people are ready to give up on their community but I'm definitely not; I want to go back."
However, Scott said apart from the vague geotechnical timeline, it had been difficult to obtain any concrete information.
Before the council announced the cancellation of its drop-in session, she had already decided there would be little point in travelling the 40km from her current lodgings in Browns Bay.
Council staff speak at a meeting with residents of the cyclone-hit Auckland suburb of Muriwai last week. Photo: RNZ / Felix Walton
Last week's community meeting did not give her much confidence in the council, she said.
"My neighbour next to me was just sobbing all the way through the meeting," Scott said.
"It was heart-breaking, that last meeting.
"He [council representative] couldn't tell us anything, and didn't even have any data in front of him.
"I mean, where's your PowerPoint presentation?"
On the other hand, Duncan Leach, whose home was at the top of Motutara Road, had said he was planning to attend the session with an agenda of his own.
The entire area had been blanketed in red stickers regardless of how close individual properties were to the slips, Leach said.
"Our place was white-stickered, like most of the ones on our side of Motutara Rd, then they just came through and red-stickered the whole street," he said.
"Some houses are down driveways and up another hill. I mean, it would be impossible for the slip to hit their house, and they're still red-stickered."
Leach had been staying in temporary accommodation while he waited for more information to come through.
But this arrangement could not go on for the next six months or more, he said.
Before Wednesday's session was cancelled, he was planning to go and demand solutions from the council.
"Imagine if we're your boss, and I go, 'Right, you guys - in two weeks, I want to see some plans drawn up of 10 different scenarios: What you're going to plan for different situations, different ideas...
"Two weeks - come up with a plan."