A Wellsford couple have described the harrowing experience of trying to get home before roads closed, as they endure being locked in by rising rivers amid the fourth flood they've experienced this year.
Both teachers at local schools, Hagan and Anna Logue, along with their three boys, Jesse, Eli and Jaxon are used to bracing for flood events. The longest they've been without power is eight days and they are preparing for the worst again, as floodwaters have hemmed them inside their property.
Today, Anna just made it home before the Dome Valley, north of Auckland was closed.
"The school sent an alert out about 10.30 and Hagan told me about 11am that I had to get home as soon as I could," she said.
"It was all systems go. I had to pick my son up from daycare in Warkworth and the street was actually flooded, so I had to walk through the flood to get him from daycare and then get through the Dome Valley.
"Luckily Hagan was able to pick up the other two boys."
She said normally the trip would take half an hour but it took an hour and a half to get home.
Footage of the family's driveway shows rising floodwaters as they drove via a private bridge to get to their property.
“Pretty much since January, it’s been [flooded] about four time’s I’d say. And this is probably the second time the rivers have come up so fast. We were quickly scrambling around trying to get kids home and getting Anna back home," Hagan said.
“My dad’s been here 70 years and the previous flood (Cyclone Gabrielle), he said he’s never seen it come up so fast and the recent one has been pretty similar to that too.”
He said they know what they need to do when the weather turns.
"Just recently, the flooding has never been so bad. So you always have to be prepared - have food here in case the power goes out. We've got our gas cookers ready, we've got the BBQ. Unfortunately we don't have a generator yet but we'd lilke to get one.
"The biggest thing is really being aware, you know, looking at the weather. The creek floods so fast and so rapidly. By 11 o'clock it was really heavy, by 2 o'clock it was fully flooded. So it just leaves quite a narrow space [of time] to really get through."
The couple live on elevated land and say their house has not been flood-damaged this year.
New Zealand Transport Authority closed the Dome Valley about 12.30pm - a number of other roads, highways and motorways have been blocked or closed due to flooding.
Just after 1pm, Mayor Wayne Brown declared a State of Local Emergency for Auckland and delegated his responsibilities and powers to Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson.
Follow 1News.co.nz for live updates on the developing weather situation.
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