Devastating flood fallout continues after home

Milford man Caleb Alex likens the impact of floods on his family life to suddenly living like a refugee in his hometown.

“It’s like arriving in a new place and starting again, with literally nothing,” he says.

The comparison is one he comes to slowly in conversation with the Observer, explaining how one night in late January upended his existence. House wrecked, possessions ruined, food spoiled and nowhere to go.

“It’s quite a scary position to be in, I’m virtually homeless,” says the 43-year-old hair stylist.

Now, nearly two months down the track and with no immediate prospect of returning to the Nile Rd house in which he grew up, he says: “It’s overwhelming. Life still goes on and you’ve still got to go to work, but there’s no way to get there and you’ve got nowhere to go back to at 5pm.”

The home is a shell, all its contents – down to the kitchen sink and cabinetry – had to be dumped. Floorboards and wallboards have been stripped out, with the start of repairs likely several months away. “It’s basically a complete rebuild, apart from the frame.”

Alex’s family is scattered across the city and he is camping in a spare room at a work colleague’s home, with just a suitcase of cobbled-together belongings.

Each day he buses from Mairangi Bay to work at Servilles in Takapuna. He has barely seen his invalid father in the aftermath of the floods on 27 January.

Instead, he prioritises catching up with his 10-year-old daughter Madison some evenings and at weekends.

She is living with her mother Tara, next to his in-laws in Te Atatu – three bus rides away – and missing her sleepover room in Milford. Thankfully, she wasn’t there on Flood Friday and is doing well.

“Mostly she’s worried about Daddy,” he says.

Alex moved back to his family home last year to help care for his 73-year-old father, Andre, who suffers from Huntington’s, a degenerative brain disease. After a post-flood health assessment, he has been placed in respite care in Epsom. Alex’s brother, Jotham, who was also living with them, has found temporary lodgings in Dairy Flat.

“My father hasn’t been back to the house in Milford. He wants to, but he isn’t going to. He doesn’t really understand,” says Alex.

On the night of the flood, after helping with leaks at Tara’s, he drove her car home to check on his father. Alex got to the top of the road around 7.30pm and was shocked to be told he could go no further. An hour later he decided to wade and swim in. The water was up to his chest. Inside the raised wooden bungalow on a back section, he found his father on the couch, watching television, with his legs swung up on the sofa to avoid lapping waters. His brother was in his room, but had not twigged that out on the streets rescue boats were being deployed to get neighbours out. His car had been submerged. “I said: ‘You’ve got to get out of here. Everyone is being evacuated’.”

Neither wanted to leave. Alex turned the power off, fearing for their safety.

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