Cyclone Gabrielle has changed the way I look for a new flat

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Lyric Waiwiri-Smith is a culture reporter for Stuff.

COMMENT: When Cyclone Gabrielle hit New Zealand on February 12, my boyfriend and I had just sorted out our furniture from Auckland’s previous flooding.

That time, a leak in our apartment ceiling sent us into an adrenaline-filled dance around the living room as we tried to move everything out of the way of the dark droplets of water falling down faster than we could catch them.

I fell asleep that night anxiously imagining a shower of water falling through the roof as if it were a rain cloud, worrying that we might wake up in the morning with water at our feet and our beloved possessions drenched.

A few days later, our property manager brought in a group of potential new tenants to view our apartment, which we will vacate in just over a week.

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Although the leak hadn’t reappeared with Cyclone Gabrielle, I wondered if the property manager was thoughtful enough to mention it to his group of house-hunters, and if the hopeful renters also pictured themselves falling asleep with visions of the roof raining on them.

We were always planning to move out – our lease was ending, the noise and nightlife of our K Road spot was becoming too much for day-to-day living, and the leak was just one of a number of issues within the apartment.

My flat-hunting experience changed dramatically after Cyclone Gabrielle.

Lyric Waiwiri-Smith/Stuff

My flat-hunting experience changed dramatically after Cyclone Gabrielle.

We had already started to look at new homes to get a sense of the market, but after the first flood and then Cyclone Gabrielle, we began seeing our options with new eyes.

I suggested to my boyfriend and our flatmates that running questions of past issues with leaks and floodings past landlords was an absolute must before we applied for tenancy applications. I also thought we should avoid areas where red and yellow stickered homes were abundant.

One potential flat my boyfriend checked out in Kingsland still had its back garden partially submerged in water from Cyclone Gabrielle, and its position at the bottom of a valley made us feel uneasy about what would happen if another intense storm blew through the neighbourhood.

Another house in Parnell seemed a perfect fit for us, but the street where it was located was the same street a close friend of mine was living, and she had been wrought with anxiety after neighbouring homes succumbed to slips.

With warnings that climate disasters akin to Cyclone Gabrielle are an unavoidable part of our future, it seems the only option we as individuals have is to take extra care of ourselves.

Looking for a new home is a stressful enough experience without the threat of climate disasters.

Lyric Waiwiri-Smith/Stuff

Looking for a new home is a stressful enough experience without the threat of climate disasters.

It makes me wonder if some landlords might avoid warning potential tenants about previous issues their home had had with Cyclone Gabrielle so they could get their property off the market, and collect money from a bunch of doomed home hunters with few other options.

I imagined what my neighbourhood could look like should an even heavier storm show up? What if the home we end up renting is fine for now, but another disaster brings everything crashing down? Our leaking apartment now looks more attractive.

It feels as if we have all lived through a traumatic experience together, and we’re still trying to figure out how to approach the intense emotions recent events have brought up.

This is our new, new normal, but can our homes adjust? I can’t help but think that renters are more vulnerable than ever.

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