George Gee spends almost every weekend at his holiday home on a low-lying part of Ōakura Road.
By Peter de Graaf RNZ
That same settlement was among the hardest hit by the Northland floods, which have isolated communities, destroyed homes and left some with nothing.
"It was about 4am this morning, and it was heavy, heavy, heavy rain, thunder and lightning as well," Gee said. "Then we got up and we just saw all the water coming down - it just kept rising, rising, rising.
"We were standing on my deck and next thing, all the water started bubbling up through the deck, Then we look in the kitchen, and the kitchen was full of water and it was just everywhere."
The water was about 10cm deep throughout Gee's kitchen, but almost a metre deep - above the beds - in the cabins, where his children and grandchildren stayed.
His son brought a generator up from Whangārei, so they could start waterblasting away a layer of thick, sticky mud.
Gee said his carpet had to be ripped up throughout his house, while his neighbours had to take their couches, fridges and beds to the dump, due to flood damage.
He said water levels reached as high as his picket fence inside the neighbouring units.
"Huge amount of water in very short hours... in about four hours, very very fast," Gee said emotionally.
"All of the houses coming into Ōakura are all underwater. Few cars are going to be carted away, they are going to be dumped, they all went underwater before they got taken out."
Gee's family helped with the clean-up and contacting his insurance provider.
Boat afloat inside garage
Flood devastation lingered throughout the small beachtown community, with Shanne McInnes' situation at his holiday home no different.
"We were having a lie in, listening to the rain and then the [car] alarm went off, and then we got up and it was underwater... everything, everything was underwater."
McInnes found his Holden ute in a metre-high body of water, with the console fully flooded.
He said his house was a "little bit elevated", but his garage was not.
"Everything was floating, including the boat on its trailer."
McInnes had only been in Ōakura for a year, but said his neighbours had "never ever seen flooding like this".
"It was insane... not a nice way to start the day," he said.
What's left of the community hall
Mud, trees and debris have also taken aim at Ōakura Community Hall.
The shared community space was devastated by a slip that smashed through the rear wall. Muddy water continued to flow out the hall's front doors hours after the slip began.
The hall was only reroofed and renovated about 18 months ago, after a massive community fundraising effort.
Rātu Hiku, who lives at nearby Ohawini Bay, said it was "tragedy".
"It left devastation along the bays... a lot of devastation around here.
"The community hall has just been hugely devastated by the huge slip that has come through the back of the community hall, so that's a bit of a tragedy for the local community."
However, Hiku remained positive that the community would overcome the long road that lay ahead.
"We are a good strong community and we keep together and we will just push on through.
"I think one day at a time... I'm sure we will all get together and pull a rabbit out of the hat."
Hiku said the last time he saw similar damage in the area was Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023.
No flooding mitigation plan
Donna Kerridge, who's lives in Ōakura, said the settlement was missing a flooding mitigation plan.
"Homes that have never flooded before are now starting to flood. The homes all opposite us that never used to flood are now flooded throughout the house."
Kerridge said she had personally lost the whole first storey of her home, with water creeping up past the windowsills.
"Our bedroom, our shower is full of mud, it's up over hand basins, up the wall, it's all up to chest high the flooding that came through."
The Māori practitioner said she wished she could have saved her "irreplaceable" books and writings about rongoā Māori.
"It would have been the first thing we would have saved had we been here. It is devastating."
She is hoping she may be able to save and retain some of the books.
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