The community rallied together to clean up local beaches after the area was hit by the first storm of the year.
Much of east Auckland’s coast was heavily battered by the storm, with almost all beaches suffering severe flooding.
Howick Coastguard operations officer Chris Young said the debris was collected by council staff last week.
He said while the original call was made to Coastguard members to help with the clean-up, he was impressed by the effort and commitment shown by local residents who then chipped in to help.
“Once we started it seemed that nearly every person at the beach was picking up debris of some sort.
“It was a really fantastic community effort and in around four to five hours both ramps, car park access and the beach were looking very good, with a few members continuing on and removing a few last broken branches,” he said.
Auckland Council’s head of operational management and maintenance Agnes McCormack said the council has completed an inspection of Cockle Bay and are meeting with Howick Local Board early next week to discuss repairs, which will be “progressed with urgency.”
“Subject to Local Board approval, repairs are likely to include an extension of the seawall (length to be determined), and reinstatement of the eroded reserve edge, the public seat and rubbish bins damaged during the storm event,” McCormack said.
A further update is expected next week.
