Former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's home has been affected by the floods in Auckland, her successor says.
"They did have some flooding so I have been in contact," Chris Hipkins told AM's Ryan Bridge.
"She's giving me a few updates and a few words of support from the sidelines," he added.
Hipkins said Ardern, MP for Mt Albert, is also helping out those in the community who have been affected by the floods.
"Like all of our Auckland employees, they're on the ground supporting their local communities at the moment and just making sure that their local residents are getting access to all of the support that they need to get through this."
Hipkins also responded to Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown's response to the flooding and said it's "not for me to judge" but understands Aucklanders have some strong opinions on it.
Hipkins confirmed Brown asked for extra communications staff to support the response in the coming days.
"My conversations with him over the weekend, he indicated he'd like some more senior emergency response experience to be fed into the team. So we've sent up the director of emergency response from NEMA (National Emergency Management Agency)," Hipkins told AM co-host Ryan Bridge.
"He also asked for some additional comms support. So we've sent up the director of communications from NEMA to make sure that we've got people on the ground there who can provide the sort of support that they are asking for."
Watch the full interview with Chris Hipkins above
