A Northland farming family united amid Cyclone Gabrielle to ensure their herd of 180 cows were milked, taking to waist-high flood waters to do so.
When Ashleigh and Bran Horsford discovered his parents Maromaku farm was flooded on Tuesday, the pair lept to the rescue, managing to milk a herd of 180 cows in about two hours during the flood.
The cows hadn't been milked since Sunday so Horsford said they drove the five minutes down the road to the farm and waded through hip to waist-deep flood water, that was "pretty cold" to relieve the cows of built-up milk.
"It was enough to just relieve them and take that pressure off them, so they seemed a lot happier afterwards," she said.
The flooded cowshed has since been pumped out and normal milking has resumed.
Many families are still unable to check on loved ones as communities remain isolated. (Source: 1News)
"None of them had been lost through the flood," Horsford said. "They just had to be able to walk through the floodwater to be able to get to the cowshed - which was manageable. The water was up to the bottom of their stomachs."
The Horsfords have been without power, internet and cell phone coverage since Sunday afternoon but are fortunate enough to have a generator. They've been told however, that power may not be restored until the end of the week, possibly even next week.
"But we've got our Starlink [satellite internet] going, which really helps us communicate between farms, so we can help each other out."
Many other farms have not been so lucky, the cyclone has damaged around 300 dairy farms in Northland alone.
There were multiple evacuations in the region yesterday, despite the easing weather.
Northland as a whole is still largely cut off. SH1 at the Brynderwyns remains closed and the alternative routes in place, such as SH16 are rough and incredibly slow.
Horsford says there is a lot of floodwater still around and "trees are down everywhere" but says she feels grateful to be able to "work with what we've got".
"There are other regions that are much worse-off than what we are dealing with."
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