Around 6000 kapa haka performers and support crew have descended on Auckland for the biggest week on the Māori calendar — the prestigious Te Matatini festival.
Some have travelled for the kapa haka festival from regions hit hard by the cyclone, determined to help lift the spirits of Māoridom.
It's the first time the festival has gone ahead since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
"All of our thoughts are really with people at home, our whānau at home, those that have been affected," Whangara Mai Tawhiti's Anahera Higgin said.
Whangara Mai Tawhiti hail from the battered East Coast.
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Just getting to Auckland was a logistical nightmare.
"There were questions around whether they could make it through the gorge, questions around whether they could fly, questions around what support was needed," Higgin said.
Forty-five kapa haka groups will compete over four days from tomorrow.
"We need something that's going to lift our spirits, lift the spirits of us as being Māori going through Covid, us as Māori going through the floods," judge Kimiora Webster said.
"The main thing is that we send our love and show our love to the iwi, to the tribes that have been affected," Opotiki Mai Tawhiti's Ricky Mitai added.
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