Wind warning response

On the 6th of September 2021 an alert on the Red Cross app on my phone came through.

It showed a wind watch for our area. This was reviewed at approximately 9pm that day. On checking the Met Service site, also on my phone, I found that there was a wind watch. On the 7th of September, checking the metservice.com on my computer, I was able to share to our Gmail account - from here Sue and Margaret sent out over 1,200 emails to our members.

At 7.51am the phone rang it was Irene from Orewa. The first thing she explained was that she was worried about my email regarding the storm. I assured her that it was a Wind Watch for strong winds and I hoped we were not to get too much rain. She had had a leak in her roof two days before in one room and then in another room the day before. I asked all the appropriate questions and found out it was a concrete tile roof. Irene had done the right thing and asked advice from her neighbour who gave her the phone numbers of people who may be able to help. Because of Covid Level 4 they were unavailable. She also asked where we could get someone to put a tarpaulin to put on. I assured her I would do what I could to get it sorted. Between 7. 51am and 9.41 I made 14 phone calls, after consulting Google. Interestingly the companies I talked to only dealt in metal tiles, or were roofing suppliers or installers. Auckland Emergency Management were helpful in the fact if you need a tarpaulin, the FENZ Fire and Emergency New Zealand handled those enquiries - unless your roof had blown off. My advice if you were in any EMERGENCY situation, is to ring 111. I rang Norm, one of our committee members, who lives in Orewa. He said his guess was it was leaves blocking a gutter in the valley on the house. He drove around and looked from the outside. He rang his son Reece, a plumber at Paragon Plumbing who was working in Kumeu; he had another job to do and would call in the afternoon. On the 9th September I talked to Irene and it was all sorted. Such a nice person had come to help. Yes, it was leaves blocking the water so it ran under the tiles into her house. He suggested a gutter guard type of product to stop this happening again. Irene is so grateful to be able to ring and ask for help and for us to be able to give it. Thank you Irene for ringing. Margaret Faed.