Couple ‘too shy to ask for help’ slept in car for three nights after floods

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The Moana Nui-ā-Kiwa Pool and Leisure Centre is a hub for the south Auckland response to the widespread flooding.

Troels Sommerville/Stuff

The Moana Nui-ā-Kiwa Pool and Leisure Centre is a hub for the south Auckland response to the widespread flooding.

A couple slept in their car for three nights after the Auckland floods because they were “too shy to ask for help”.

And community leaders in the region’s south are worried there are many in that boat, despite a new response centre being set up in one of the worst-hit areas.

After an initially slow response in south Auckland, the Moana Nui-ā-Kiwa Pool and Leisure Centre has become the hub for the south’s flood victims, as people stream through the doors looking for food, clothes and help from support services.

Just before midnight on Monday, a couple showed up who had been sleeping in their car for the past three nights “because they were too shy to ask for help”, Manukau ward councillor Alf Filipaina said.

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Volunteers kept the operation going through the night for the couple, who by luck had stumbled across a clip about the centre online while using a nearby library’s free wi-fi, Filipaina said.

“It’s just crazy, that’s why I’m happy we’re up and running,” he said.

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Floodwaters surround the Ormsby family’s home before they dramatically evacuated in a boat with their bedridden grandmother.

“[The food and clothing] disappears as quick as it comes in.”

At the centre on Tuesday, Poko and her sister Theresa, who did not want to give their last names, were filling black rubbish bags with clothes and supplies after their Māngere home was inundated during the flood.

“We tried to take what we needed, but before we could it was all wet,” Poko said.

They were living with eight other family members at the time, but since they couldn’t go home, they had been split up having to live with those family members who have space for them.

“We’ve had water [around the house] before, but not so bad you had to swim out.”

She said they were lucky they had a boat outside, which they loaded their elderly family members into in order to get them to safety.

Nga Kino, one of a group of Cook Island women affectionately known as “the aunties”, said many in the wider community didn’t know about the centre or were too whakamā to ask for help.

Because of that, there had been street teams knocking doors in some of the worst-hit areas in order to get the word out about the support services at the response centre.

Nga Kino, centre, says she and her “aunties” are there to support the community.

Troels Sommerville/Stuff

Nga Kino, centre, says she and her “aunties” are there to support the community.

The centre also had representatives from Civil Defence, the Ministry of Social Development and Kāinga Ora who could assist people with questions and getting them into accommodation.

Kino said she and her fellow aunties were there to help those who made it through the doors to feel safe and comforted.

“We’re just here to support the community … some of us took days off work to be here.”

Moana Nui-ā-Kiwa is located at 66R Mascot Avenue, Māngere.

There is also a Civil Defence Centre at Manu Tukutuku, 32 Riverton Drive, Randwick Park where people can stay temporarily.

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