Auckland mayor Wayne Brown said that he would prefer for the city’s council to work with property owners on building storm resilience, and not on managed retreat. At a governing body workshop, Brown said that the council should work on developing solutions tailored for each site and community.

“In the long run, we can better serve Aucklanders by adapting to life in a changing climate. We need to work with community groups, not over the top of them. I want to see the council join forces with local residents and mana whenua to monitor and manage flood risks in and around urban streams,” Brown said.

In a news release, he also said that Aucklanders must learn from these catastrophic weather events to start doing things differently.

“If we rebuild, we have to build better. I think we can continue to develop some flood-prone areas of Auckland, but only if flood-resistant design and construction is utilised, and the appropriate stormwater infrastructure is in place,” he said.

The Cyclone recovery taskforce is currently working with the country’s insurance companies to assess flood-prone areas and the possibility of managed retreat for locations that are likely to be affected by devastating future storms.

Results from the collaboration were recently unveiled as taskforce head and cyclone minister Grant Robertson announced new categories for properties in flood-prone areas, one of which necessitated managed retreat as rebuilds simply are not possible anymore.

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