MEMBER NEWS

FLOODS IN NAPIER NEW ZEALAND

In 1931 Napier, New Zealand was listed in the record books as the seaside town that was hit by an earthquake. The town was rebuilt and is now known as the Art Deco capital of New Zealand.

2020 is another year which will go into the Napier record books, as on the 9 November there was a one in a 250-year flood. Four months’ worth of rain fell in a few hours and water was over a metre deep in the streets as the stormwater drains couldn’t cope. A local state of emergency was declared as the widespread floods caused landslides, power cuts and 3,000 homes were evacuated.

SSAA member, All Secure Self Storage, was one of the many businesses affected by the flooding. However, they were able to fare better than most as the original building was built above the road level.

As reports on the extent of the flooding in Napier became known early in the evening, the manager and head office staff were constantly checking the security cameras at the facility. The water levels in the town kept rising, and it became evident there was some water penetration into the building.

The facility manager and staff member returned to the facility as quickly as possible, to establish the extent of the water and what resources would be required to mitigate the damage. The maintenance officer who looks after the Central North Island left Taupo an hour and a half away, arrived to start work on the recovery at the facility.

The General Manager, the Operations Manager and the Maintenance Officer, immediately started to gather resources, including wet and dry vacuums, pumps and other equipment that would be required. They left Auckland as quickly as possible for the five-hour drive to Napier.

After arriving in Napier, they got to work immediately, removing as much of the water as possible. While doing so, they worked on an Emergency management plan to let the customers know of the situation, how best to assist them with their concerns and to establish what additional resources were required.

The next morning, the CEO, Keith Edwards drove down from Auckland with a van load of packaging material, and the Director, and the Palmerston North Manager travelled to assist with the clean-up and to assist customers.

IMAGES COURTESY OF JOHN COWPLAND/STUFF

As customers arrived to view their units, they were met by one of the team members and escorted to their unit. If applicable, a photo was taken of the unit, for insurance purposes. A team member was also on hand to remove any water that may have been still in the unit, and if necessary, an alternative unit was offered to assist with their clean up. Packaging material was offered, at no charge, to those that needed it, to replace waterdamaged boxes and packaging material.

An additional 30 cubic metre bin was ordered for the material that was being disposed of which was filled and replaced several times over the next few days.

Customers were kept up to date with the situation as it evolved. By day three, those that had not been in touch or viewed their units were personally contacted to establish what steps they wished to take. During the clean up an espresso coffee cart was ordered and arrived to supply the customers with free coffees to keep their spirits up, while they dealt with their clean-up. The Cookie Time franchisee, who are customers at the facility, also supplied boxes of cookies to go with the coffees, at no charge. The customers and staff appreciated this. l

THE OWNERS AND DIRECTORS WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE ENTIRE ALL SECURE TEAM FOR THEIR SUPPORT AND MANAGEMENT OF THIS CHALLENGING SITUATION. THE TEAM TRULY EMBRACED THE CORE VALUES OF THE COMPANY.

All Secure would like to thank Aaron Alsweiler, General Manager from Safe Store in New Zealand who offered an ear and shared their disaster recovery experience which he had and considered a good outcome in the face of tragedy. This included some documents, processes and also Safe Store’s philosophy of helping customers and staff to get through as best they could. Aaron said, “It is what we need to do as an industry to ensure that we are not perceived as the bad guys when things like these, which are beyond our control, occur, and it certainly seems as though the All Secure team have done a great job and we wish them, and their customers, well.”