A sandbag collection centre at Westgate in West Auckland. Photo: Dean Purcell / NZ Herald
By NZ Herald
Auckland Emergency Management have been forced to tell people to bring their own sandbags after running out amid a rush of people seeking flood prevention help.
Three sandbag collection centres were set up Mairangi Bay, St Heliers, and Westgate ahead of Cyclone Gabrielle hitting on Sunday.
But bags at at least one centre - Westgate - have run out after people queued for hours to collect what they needed.
One woman told the Herald she waited in line for more than two hours - only to arrive near the front and be told there were no bags left.
“Seems ridiculous they didn’t have more available,” she said.
“Why only three Auckland stations too? When thousands of people’s homes were flooded and there’s only three pickup locations, no wonder the lines span kilometres long.”
AEM has now told people to supply their own bags.
Fulton Hogan divisional manager for traffic management Darren Gillard, who was overseeing sand management at Westgate, said people have been very emotional after waiting for hours.
”There’s been people crying. People angry,” Gillard said.
“Lot of disappointed people. We’ve run out of bags. There’s people waiting for hours. There’s people with trailers.”
Adam Maggs, Controller at Auckland Emergency Management, said there was a strong desire from Aucklanders to protect their property with sandbags.
But he urged people to look for other ways to protect their property first. Auckland Emergency Management was urgently working to supply bags and sand at the collection points.
“Demand is significant,” he said.
He recommended people not take sand from the beach due to contamination.