When the rain falling is a trigger you can’t escape

Amrita Aujila couldn’t sleep on Monday night for fear of the next day’s downpour.

When a one-in-250-year flood hit Auckland in January, Aujila, her husband, and their then-17-month-old child were forced to evacuate their home in West Auckland’s Swanson, which had been previously damaged by rainfall in August 2021.

Three months on, the young family are reliving the “traumatic” experience after a state of emergency was called in Auckland on Tuesday afternoon due to severe weather.

After years of rainfall induced anxiety, Aujila feels she is at breaking point.

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“We can’t keep living like this any more, it’s just too hard,” Aujila says.

Though the family now lives in a rental, she visited their yellow stickered home on Tuesday morning to inspect the damage to their property, which the couple bought two years ago – they’re part of the one in four Aucklanders who have mortgages on homes in flood zones.

“I was totally in tears seeing how flooded it was again this morning and I thought, ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ … The stress is just too much,” Aujila says.

“It’s our home – my baby was born there, so I just can’t let it go like that.”

In East Auckland’s Royal Oak, 22-year-old Jack Baker had their bedroom soaked in knee-height water during the January floods, destroying many of their possessions.

“I had a massive cry because I lost everything,” Baker says.

”I had no control over it, there was nothing I could have done to change the fate of my room.”

Now, they say their garage has flooded from Tuesday’s downpour, sparking fears their room might be in for more damage.

”It’s had an underlying, subconscious effect on me, [the fear of] being displaced,” Baker says.

The thing about rain is, you can’t really avoid it. Other triggers like drug use in a film, or miscarriage in a story – you can opt out. But the rain will fall, no matter how hard you try to resist.

Clinical psychologist Karen Nimmo says those who have experienced severe weather events may find their emotions affected by the sound of heavy rain on the roof, howling wind and bad weather forecasts.

“It’s like the mind and body hold onto past traumatic memories and a reminder can bring them rushing back,” Nimmo says.

“With the climate and our weather increasingly unpredictable, some people will feel fearful, particularly those who’ve been hard hit and suffered previously.

“Weather as a trauma is particularly tough to deal with because we can’t just turn it off or turn away from it. We have no control over it, other than preparing properties and people for the onslaught and stocking up on supplies.”

Not everyone who experiences something traumatic will come away with post-traumatic stress disorder, a mental condition that may last months or years after experiencing a terrifying or life-threatening event.

However, with the increasing regularity of these events, some may find themselves living with long term mental health effects, and Nimmo says individuals with PTSD may experience “flashbacks to the last event, with vivid and distressing memories or dreams”.

“They may feel anxious, distressed and low in mood, be edgy and easily startled, avoid anything or anyone that reminds them of the event, withdraw from activities and struggle to function normally. Sleep problems are common.

“In the most severe cases, traumatic memories become stuck on replay mentally, causing significant distress and impairing normal function.”

Three steps to get try work through the anxiety

• Prioritise the safety of their people and pets, prepare their properties as well as possible
• Keep up with news/weather updates and focus on practical tasks one at a time.
• For those feeling generally anxious, engage in other activities that take your mind off the weather and do what you can for others who are struggling, at risk or need help.