Wellington City Council buying out property affected by April flash flooding

Wellington City Council is in the process of buying out one property affected by the city's April flash flooding.

Mayor Andrew Little said this was due to a property being under-threat from slips from council-owned land.

"We have one that was at risk of landslips, basically. We don't have a programme of buyouts," Little told RNZ.

RNZ understands the property is located in the suburb of Vogeltown.

The council said it's not in a position currently to give more detail on the sale - including the address, or a detailed explanation about why it was being bought.

More than 1800 properties in the city were impacted by the devastating weather on 20 April - when intense rainfall triggered flash flooding and major landslips in the capital.

Residents recently called for more central government funding on the six-month anniversary of the floods, with multiple people still out of their homes.

Little said the last big programme of buyouts was in Auckland, following the anniversary floods in 2023, which was largely funded by central government.

"The government made it pretty clear to us early on that they didn't see them playing a role in any of the remediation efforts that we have in Wellington city. So that's the situation we're in."

He said in his view, the council's responsibility was to make sure drainage systems were working as best as possible, and that landscaping and street-scaping didn't lead to major safety risks when systems were overwhelmed.

But it wasn't there to bail people out, he said.

"We can't be a sort of a backstop for people who have bought their houses in particular areas when there's already a risk in those areas of flooding and what have you."

The council committed last month, among other actions, to review a 1995 report into similar flooding in Island Bay and whether recommendations of that report were implemented.

Last week, Wellington City Council said it had revisited the government's decision not to provide buyout assistance.

A spokesperson said the minister had confirmed this again, adding he would consider extra funding in future if another disaster struck.

Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell previously said the National Emergency Management Agency had provided $46,000 on top of the government's contribution to the Mayoral Relief Fund, for accommodation to support people displaced by the floods.

"Central government will consider proposals from local councils for eligible funding support following an adverse event. In relation to the Wellington floods, no additional requests for eligible funding support, outside of what has been provided, have been received," Mitchell said.