A young family in West Auckland is facing a large bill after a crucial bridge on their property was wiped out in last month's flood.
The area was devastated on August 30 by flash flooding, which saw torrential rain fall and caused rivers to burst their banks. Homes and businesses were also damaged, while roads were torn.
Alice and Nathan Martens watched in horror as floodwaters rose towards their home, where they live with their three children.
The home is set back in the bush in Henderson Valley and accessed by a steep driveway and bridge.
But the morning light following the flood revealed the terrible damage caused by floodwaters, which had carried rocks and trees and slammed them into the bridge.
"When we woke up in the morning, there was hardly any bridge left - it was pretty much collapsed," Alice told 1News.
One end of what remained of the bridge had sunk about half a metre due to the soil underneath eroding away, with more of the land being washed away with each subsequent rainfall after the flood.
They initially thought the bridge would be covered by their insurance but found that bridges and culverts were specifically excluded in their policy.
The family were quoted $160,000 to fix the bridge.
"There's been a lot of tears," she said.
"It has been really stressful."
The family were looking at re-mortgaging to try and raise the money needed to fix the bridge, and a Givealittle page had also been set up to help them.
Meanwhile the Carey Park Campground down the road still faces months of clean up and repairs.
The floodwaters caused substantial damage to a hall, which included a commercial kitchen and accommodation block. Insurers and engineers were coming to assess the damage and look at what could be repaired.
"It's going to take a lot of time to get it to its former glory," said Assistant Director Andrew Thompson.
The camp had dealt with people pillaging the damaged areas of the park, he said.
"I saw a gentleman with a wrench just undoing some of our basketball equipment."
The floods also saw a large playground washed away, and Thompson said parts of it had been found several kilometres downstream.
Locals were dropping off pieces when they came across them, he said
The staff had "pulled together", Thompson said, and been hard at work clearing tonnes of debris.
The campground hopes to have groups back in other areas of site as soon as the Covid-19 alert levels allow.
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