National MP Erica Stanford has revealed her father is one of the Aucklanders stuck in their homes after flooding broke around 200 lifts across the city.
Emergency Management officials first raised the issue on Wednesday revealing they were aware around 200 lifts across the city weren't working.
This was backed up by Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown who told AM on Thursday several elderly people were stuck in their homes because of broken lifts.
"Just yesterday it came to our attention 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.
But Brown was unable to confirm how many people were actually stuck and neither was Auckland Emergency Management (AEM).
AEM controller Rachel Kelleher told media on Thursday staff are working hard to fix the lifts but none of the operators had reported any trapped residents. But she urged anyone who is struggling to contact AEM.
Speaking with AM on Friday Erica Stanford revealed her father was one of the elderly people who were isolated because of lift issues.
"My dad is actually one of them so he is stuck because the lifts aren't working but luckily my mum can get up and down but I have heard other stories as well," she said.
"I'm also really concerned about some of the elderly people who were in pensioner flats who are now in emergency accommodation. Their long-term needs are going to be really important because this was traumatic for them and then now putting them into week-by-week accommodation is really tough. So trying to find them somewhere in an area they know is going to be really, really important," Stanford added.
Chan-Green then asked Labour's Michael Wood, who was appearing on the show with Stanford, whether he was confident in the communication from the Mayor in the wake of the disaster.
It comes after the Mayor claimed AEM wasn't aware of the lift issue until he told them but was then unable to provide details on how many people were affected.
But Wood, who was given the newly created Minister of Auckland title in the recent Cabinet reshuffle, wasn't giving a clear answer.
"We're working closely, obviously, to try and make sure that everyone's talking to each other. And it's clear communication," he told Chan-Green.
When she questioned again whether that was because he wasn't confident in the response so far, Wood said it is still in the immediate stages and there will be an investigation afterwards to see where improvements could have been made.
"Well, look, clearly there'll be a process where we look at what's happened at the end of this to try and make sure that any lesson is learned.
"The key thing that we focus on now is if an issue comes up like this, we get the facts on the table and we get help to people who need it. That's very squarely where our focus is at the moment. And there will be time afterwards to look back at those issues.
"As Erica said, we're really focussed on those welfare needs and accommodation. We're still effectively in the emergency response period so to some extent it's about making sure that people are out of dangerous situations and they're being looked after."
Brown has faced intense scrutiny and criticism for his lack of response to Friday's flooding.
During the beginning of the flooding, Brown was noticeably absent and didn't declare a state of emergency until late on Friday night - after several national and local politicians had publicly called for him to do it hours earlier.
The Mayor came under fire again after leaked messages showed him whining about missing tennis and calling the media "drongos" on Saturday - the day after the city was devastated by catastrophic flooding which killed four people and destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses.
After days of scrutiny and calls for him to resign Brown launched an investigation into the flood response on Monday.
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 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.
