Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown says he told emergency services hundreds of people could be trapped in their apartment buildings after flooding broke their lifts - but he says it's not an emergency situation.
Auckland has been lashed by severe weather for several days causing flooding, slips and widespread property damage.
A state of emergency was declared late on Friday night after several local and national politicians urged the mayor to sign it.
Brown joined AM on Thursday to provide an update on the damage. During the interview, the Mayor said while weather conditions are improving, a significant number of people are isolated in their apartments because of broken lifts.
"Just yesterday it came to our attention that there were a number of people in multi-storey apartment buildings who are kind of, semi-isolated because, although there's no damage to the building, there are over 200 lifts not working in Auckland city and some are elderly people who are up quite a few storeys and that had been missed by the welfare and the emergency people," Brown told AM's Melissa Chan-Green.
Later in the interview, Brown was asked whether he knew exactly how many elderly people were living in high rises with broken lifts but he said he wasn't sure.
"Well, I am not sure really. I have just brought that to the attention of the thing and there will be… in the update from Auckland Emergency Management… having brought it to their attention that's the sort of stuff they should know," he said.
When pushed by Chan-Green whether he has asked for the number of people, he said yes.
"Yes, I have and we have actually ourselves found out how many. Yesterday we did some research on the number of lifts around, it's not actually an emergency issue, it's just an issue of, more of a social welfare issue," he said.
"Those buildings are… a lot of people live that way now so sometimes things that are right in front of… sometimes organisations don't see them and one of the things we will be reviewing, and I expect to… this review is going to be very important and might even be uncomfortable for some people, whether the emergency management teams were aware of some of these things.
"It will go right back, not just to consider what happened last Friday, which undoubtedly not only my communications but everyone's communications could have been improved on, but we go right back to what preparations did we have? We had an emergency situation that developed where we found the emergency centres, which had been chosen by those people, all flooded," he added.
Civil Defence Controller Rachel Kelleher addressed issues with lifts in Thursday morning's update on the flood response.
"We are aware from some of the companies that provide lift services that they do have quite a high volume of lifts that are out of service at the moment because of damage from the floods.
"They are getting in additional technicians to help with that but of course, there's sometimes parts needed too which can take some time."
Anyone stuck in a high-rise building because they can't go up or down stairs should call 0800 22 22 00 for help.
Brown's comments come after he's faced widespread criticism for his response to the disaster.
On Monday Brown launched an investigation into the flood response after calls for him to resign.
The Mayor also came under fire after leaked messages showed him whining about missing tennis and calling the media "drongos" the day after the city was devastated by catastrophic flooding which killed four people and destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses.
On Wednesday Brown found himself in hot water again after he angered councillors by telling them to stop speaking to media about the flooding.
In a leaked email to 170 local politicians, Brown, who was noticeably absent during Friday's flooding and has done few interviews since becoming mayor, urged councillors to allow him to be the "one voice" of the response.
But Brown's request didn't go down well, with North Shore ward councillor Chris Darby calling it "ludicrous" in a response email
"Your request for councillors and local board members to button it on regional matters is somewhat ludicrous.
"The tone and content of your email, considering failings, is inappropriate. I would have stopped after the first line where you expressed a sliver of generosity," Darby said.
