A property owner's fight with his local council over a flood-damaged slope has reverberated beyond Tairua, with an Auckland woman saying costs are mounting years later.
1News yesterday broke the story of Marc Fraser, who has been battling the Thames-Coromandel District Council over his steep hillside property in Tairua.
Fraser wanted the council to put up a retaining wall on part of an embankment it owned, right below his property, to prevent the slope from collapsing. The council said that would be Fraser's responsibility.
Like Fraser, Auckland woman Luci Harrison owned a property right next to council-owned land in Remuera. During the Anniversary Day floods in 2023, a section of council land fell away in a slip.
Harrison said a retaining wall was constructed following the floods – but the council wouldn't build or pay for it.
"I had to get a second mortgage and build this retaining wall which was nearly $300,000 under huge hardship," she said.
Harrison was able to claim back much of the cost through a Government scheme two years later, but there were still ongoing costs.
"The council still own this wall but I've had to put an easement on my title so that I still am responsible for maintaining it, even though it's not my wall. But it saved my house."
Harrison set up a Facebook group which she said has around 450 members – all still dealing with concerns over their flood- or slip-damaged homes.
"I think there's many people that are affected with the council land being slipped away or flooded or eroded and they're having to reach into their own pockets to fix their own properties. And many people haven't got the finances or the ability to do that."
'Is it too risky to stay here?'
1News spoke to experts in climate and geology on whether more severe weather events would continue to pose problems for property owners around the country.
Sam Dean, chief scientist for future climate at Earth Sciences NZ, said global warming meant the air carried more moisture, leading to more rain.
"At the moment, we believe these storms have just become more intense. They haven't become more frequent, per se, but it feels more frequent because the same weather has more impact. It does more damage, it's more severe."
He said modelling suggested severe weather might occur more frequently over the next few decades.
Properties at risk across New Zealand
"You may see more events as well as more intensity and that's a double effect. So, it's one on top of the other."
And while the recent downpours in January struck the upper North Island, he said everyone needed to be aware of the risk.
"My message to New Zealanders would be that this is a problem for everyone. So, it's not just a problem for Northland or the Bay of Plenty or Coromandel. These events are randomly affecting different parts of New Zealand."
More rain also raised the prospect of more landslides.
Earth Sciences NZ chief landslide scientist Chris Massey said the country was experiencing "more frequent landslide-triggering events at this kind of scale".
He said a project between the research institute and the universities of Massey, Canterbury and Auckland was building a national map of landslide risk which was due to be completed late next year.
"It's really fundamental to allow the decision makers to make their decisions. And it really comes down to risk. Is it too risky to stay here, or is the risk acceptable?" Massey said.
Martin Brook, a professor of applied geology at Auckland University, said Kiwis' love of owning homes on clifftops or hillsides was problematic.
However, playing it safe in a country full of hillsides also raised issues.
"The problem is you end up with large parts of our suburbs and urban areas which, really, you wouldn't have houses on ideally," Brook said.
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