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Unlocking recovery. Strategic observations, recommendations from the Tāmaki Makaurau Recovery Office

Author:  
Tāmaki Makaurau Recovery Office
Source:  
Tāmaki Makaurau Recovery Office, Auckland Council
Publication date:  
2026
Topics:  
Environment ,People

Executive summary

The Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods (27 January – 1 February 2023) and Cyclone Gabrielle (13 – 14 February 2023) triggered Auckland’s first large-scale recovery from a severe weather event. The Tāmaki Makaurau Recovery Office (‘the Recovery Office’) operated for over three years, coordinating support for people and communities, housing, and infrastructure. Key functions included information and advice, infrastructure repair, wellbeing support, iwi partnerships, and community-led recovery.

The government announcement of a support scheme for impacted residential properties fundamentally changed the shape of the recovery. Over 3,500 properties were assessed, more than 1,100 homes identified as having intolerable risk to life were bought out, and over 130 properties had risks mitigated.

By the end of the programme in 2034, total recovery costs are expected to exceed $2.5 billion, largely driven by helping people move out of harm’s way, and infrastructure repair and resilience improvements. These activities will leave a legacy of improved resilience for parts of the Auckland region, but come at a significant cost to the region.

Many of the activities managed by the Recovery Office were outside of Auckland Council’s regular business and required a rapid and innovative approach to implementation. As we come to the end of our formal recovery period, it’s important that we take time to evaluate what we have learned and apply it at all levels.

Our overarching conclusion: Auckland’s recovery demonstrated both the scale of disaster impacts and the challenges of response. We need to be better prepared for future recoveries, with recovery efforts integrated with resilience planning and supported by clear roles, funding and delivery models to deliver timely, equitable, and people-centred support.

Purpose of this report

This report draws on observations from the 2023 Auckland recovery effort to identify strategic opportunities that will improve recovery preparedness for Auckland and nationally. It focuses on areas where our experience in Auckland’s recovery from severe storms, floods and landslides suggests possibilities for strategic and systemic improvements. The report reflects Recovery Office experience and does not represent Auckland Council policy.

In part one of this paper, we introduce the range of activities undertaken by the Recovery Office between April 2023 and June 2026, with a particular focus on the activities enabled by the Auckland Funding Agreement, which transformed the scope and scale of this recovery.

In part two, we identify three key areas for focus moving forward:

  1. Risk reduction, readiness and resilience: the actions we can take to reduce the need for recovery from floods and landslides and, once in recovery, how we can use the momentum of events to achieve long-term resilience improvements
  2. Recovery support: actions to improve how we support communities after an event
  3. Roles and responsibilities: aligning the delivery of recovery with clear roles and responsibilities in a locally led, centrally supported model.

Each section contains high-level observations and evidence, a recommendation, and a range of possible actions that would respond to the recommendation. Some of the possible actions are already underway, indicating positive progress since the 2023 storms. Others would need significant further investigation and effort to develop. 

This report is intended for agencies involved in recovery, including Auckland Council and other councils, central government, the insurance sector, and community organisations. Its findings, alongside the companion report Delivering Recovery, will inform a coordinated programme of work led by Auckland Emergency Management’s Recovery Unit (discussed further in the final section of this report). A third report, Together Auckland: Recovering from the 2023 Storms, gives a complete account of the entire recovery effort – what was decided, how it was delivered, the impact on our people, and what the legacy of the storms will be for Tāmaki Makaurau. ...

 

Auckland Council, June 2026

See also

Delivering recovery. 

Operational lessons and recommendations from the Tāmaki Makaurau Recovery Office. June 2026

Auckland together: 

Recovering from the 2023 storms. June 2026



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