A 97-year-old Esk Valley resident is “disgusted” at looters helping themselves to things from his Cyclone Gabrielle-damaged home.
New figures released to 1News under the Official Information Act show there were more than 100 reports of looting at flood-damaged properties nationwide in the month following the Auckland Anniversary floods.
That covers a week-and-a-half following Gabrielle, and the actual number could be much higher due to the way crimes are recorded.
For comparison, there were a total of 3830 residential burglaries over the same time period - an increase of 228 compared to last year.
Months on, some say their homes are still being targeted.
One of those is Frank Desborough, for whom his golden years aren’t playing out the way he thought.
He’s living in town now, his property ravaged by Gabrielle, but that’s not all, with looters taking advantage of his now-empty home.
“Goods have been taken from all these drawers,” he told 1News.
He said thieves have been breaking in and taking what’s left.
“Probably the cheekiest and the worst was an Anderson diesel engine that was only one week old, they unscrewed that and disconnected it and look it off a high lift. It would have taken two men to take it away, it would have needed a truck.”
The figures also show just eight people have been arrested or prosecuted in relation to these burglaries and thefts.
The data on looting is "indicative-only", according to police, as "there is no specific field in operational police databases that identifies a property as being flood damaged".
Instead, when someone reports a burglary or theft at an address damaged by flooding, a comment may be recorded "which states the property has either flood damage or a red/yellow sticker or placard".
Police conclude it's therefore possible "properties were missed".
Superintendent Naila Hassan, the Waitematā District Commander, said: "I don't know myself whether there are any active investigations, where we have identified an offender and haven't yet arrested them".
"We continue to investigate these matters so, as burglary reports come in, we investigate them, and certainly we'll be looking to hold any offenders we identify to account.
"I don't have any information before me that indicates that certain groups are targeting these properties that have been red and yellow stickered".
Another to be hit by thieves is Manmeet Malhotra, who was forced to flee her West Auckland home when the floods hit.
"We were told it'd be cordoned off, the area would be cordoned off, there will be a police patrol and everything," she said. "But people did go in there that night."
She said her property - and her neighbours' properties - were targeted by looters.
"It's thousands, four, five thousand dollars of stuff has been, gone missing. It's still going on, you won't believe it."
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