Soak it up

The Auckland floods highlight the need to use both natural and built infrastructure to cope with climate change.

- Veronika Meduna

Among the thousands of people walking through persistent rain towards Auck-land’s Mt Smart Stadium on the afternoon of January 27, were two of my family. They wore wetsuits under their raincoats to stay warm, if not dry.

Within two hours of dropping them as close to the stadium as was allowed, I was scrambling to find them again as dusk was falling, after the Elton John concert was called off. Almost three times the average January rainfall had lashed the city during that short window of time, culminating in thunderous downpours that triggered the worst floods in Auckland’s modern history.