Some residents of the tiny King Country settlement of Ōhura say they have no plans to move despite the spectre of climate change and the village's history of flooding.
By Robin Martin of RNZ
About 50 homes were damaged during a flash flood earlier this month, with five left uninhabitable.
Once a bustling coal town, Ōhura had a population close to 2000 before mining operations closed in the mid-1960s. Now about 160 hardy souls call it home – up more than 30 on the 2018 Census.
Stewart Mckenzie owns the Kallil Motors building on the main street. Constructed in the 1920s it comes with its very own flood gauge – etched into its walls.
"Since 1964, I think, '58. There's at least 20 times floodwaters have been in this garage," he said. "So this one here, 2026, was about 200mm below the big flood of '98."
The 74-year-old former farmer had lived in and around Ōhura all his life.
He wasn't going anywhere.
'Good vibe, good bones'
Fletcher Tetlow aka "Rambo" lived on Tongaporutu Rd.
His home was the first to flood when the Mangaroa Stream broke its banks.
"See, here's the high tide mark so about 300mm and it gets everywhere as you can see and it affected and my generator and my car because they don't like swimming."
In his mid-60s, Rambo had been put up elsewhere for the time being.
"They haven't said anything about condemning it [the house] either which way, but this is not its first flood.
"It's all kauri and it's got a good vibe, good bones, so I'm not too worried."
He reckoned he'd be able to clean it up and move back in.
"Oh yeah, if I can and I've got nowhere else to go, so this is good, but if they wrote it off I'd take the coin."
'I just wanted my family to be safe'
Logging truck driver Gene McBride was a more recent arrival from Wellington.
Neighbour and civil defence volunteer Sophie Stockbridge helped get his two children out of his flooded Kiwi St property in the dead of night.
"She finally got here the boy jumped on a floatie. My daughter jumped on her back and then we just had to walk out I'd say 150 to 200m of floodwaters about neck height."
He had a singular focus at the time.
"Just my kids. I wanted them to get safe that was my priority. Everything else, material things, I wasn't too worried about. I wasn't worried about my house. I just wanted my family to be safe."
Insurers had already been through and after leaving the rat race, Gene and partner Hayley, remained committed to their slice of back country paradise.
Lionel was kicking back in his makeshift bar on Kiwi St.
"We worked on rigs all our lives me and a few of the other guys and we came over here in 1980 and we've seen a few floods.
"This isn't the worst one. We've had some real bad ones, but it was wet and it came in my house, of course.
"Look at the carpet. I've water blasted it, but it's still covered in mud. It's a nightmare, really."
In his 80s, he still couldn't think of anywhere else he'd rather be than Ōhura.
"Look at it, it's usually like this. This is the first flood we've had in 28 years and it has beautiful weather, it's quiet, it's peaceful, the people are beautiful. What more could you ask for? It's heaven."
Ruapehu District Council and the Ministry of Social Development were continuing to provide welfare support in Ōhura.
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