The Great Marangai of 2023

As we approach two weeks since the Auckland floods, the extent of the damage is coming clear.

There were hundreds of little land slips like in the picture above. The water in the bay remains murky and probably full of s**t from all the sewage overflows. Only a few people actually died, which is good, but dozens of homes will be torn down and thousands more are seriously damaged. Lots of cars written off. It’s still unknown how much damage to the sewer and water systems. The residents of one nearby area seem to have gotten a bad tummy bug and suspect their water is contaminated.

Here’s another shot of the tennis court in Little Shoal Bay. The Bowling Club is redoing the floor… with real plywood this time instead of the MDF that was in there before. It’s surprising that it was ever allowable to use that MDF in a building built on piling above a tidal marsh. Probably it wasn’t.

I found this informative timeline of how the storm developed… it was a convergence of multiple factors that brought us so much rain.

This week’s earthquake in Turkey is a reminder — if any was needed — that this storm was No Big Deal. But that’s only a little comfort to the people affected. And we have another cyclone heading our way this weekend which has the potential to be just as bad… ugh!