The Auckland Anniversary floods of January 2023 devastated much of the North Shore's Wairau Valley. Particularly badly hit were the suburbs of Milford, Sunnynook, Forrest Hill, and Totara Vale. In Milford alone, 150 houses were classified as Category 3, land now considered to be too dangerous to live on.
Three years later, the community is working together to redesign the increasingly empty streets, and to turn the Wairau creek catchment into something that locals will treasure rather than fear.
Before the 1960s, flooding was common along Milford's Nile Road. Two major floods, in 1928 and 1953, prompted the former Takapuna City Council to seek ways to tame the creek that drains the Wairau Valley.
Photo: Supplied / Sean D'Souza
Longtime resident Sean D'Souza, who lives near Nile Road, said he u
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