Auckland's rain-soaked recurring nightmare

A year on from the devastating Auckland Anniversary Weekend storms, the evidence of them remains all over the cityAuckland's landscape has changed forever after the storms that hit a year ago - and residents dealing with slips are still living a nightmare. Every night Aleysha Knowles and her son go off to bedrooms she's been warned are too dangerous to sleep in.She keeps a close eye on the cracks in the walls but experts have told her she's safe."The worst that will ever, ever, ever happen is my neighbour will crack off me, and they've said that that's not life threatening," she says.Knowles is one of thousands of homeowners in Auckland living with the after-effects of last year's Auckland anniversary disaster. She's still waiting for the result of an assessment on her property that will determine whether she can stay in what she thought was her forever home.Her case is more complicated than most because she shares a firewall with the adjoining red-stickered house (she was yellow-stickered) and the property is cross leased, common share, meaning she is a 50/50 co-owner of the land."It's proving very complicated to try and split a settlement," she says.From her deck, Knowles points to the container ship-sized slip that swept into the gully of native bush and undermined her neighbour's foundations, the terrified tenants rushing out, never to return."That was a horrific sound just listening to the foundations of the balcony just falling down into the bush. The sound of trees being ripped out and washed away, it's a sound I'll never forget."On Friday January 27, 2023, Auckland had 245 mm of rainfall in 24 hours - the previous record was 161 mm in 1985. Four people died, more than 26,000 properties lost power, more than 3,000 properties lost drinking water, Auckland Airport was forced to shut, flights were cancelled dozens of roads were closed.Thousands of properties are being risk-assessed by Auckland Council and most owners will find out by the end of March whether they fit into the low-risk Category 1 or Category 2 where they may be able fix their properties, or the highest risk Category 3, making them eligible for a voluntary council buy-out.Knowles explains to The Detail why she's hoping to be told she's Category 2P, which will mean that she can fix up the property and continue to live there. Through stickered resident groups she knows the toll the uncertainty has taken on people from relationship splits to financial disaster. She says the tough year has hurt her financially and personally…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details