The impact of the thunderstorm was felt elsewhere at the Fraser Cove Shopping Centre, with water cascading down from the Botanical Rd reserve ending up entering eight shops with their backs to the bank.
Fraser Cove manager Marie Mischewski said the shops were still trading when the storm hit.
Firefighters fixed the drainage problem at the rear of the building to allow the water to get away, leaving staff, shopkeepers and the families of shopkeepers to lift and shift stock and sweep the water out.
Mischewski said people worked through the night to ensure they were able to open for business the next morning. The water came part way through the shops, with one shop worst hit than the rest.
''It was fortuitous that they were all trading at the time. Customers asked what they could do to help.''
The cause of their flooding was totally different to Big Save Furniture which was hit by a combination of gutters overflowing and the internal sump drain backing up.
Taylor said high tide and the huge volume of water meant the system that the roof drained into was unable to cope, leaving water to back up and flood the store. The sump drained into the council's overloaded stormwater system.
Similar problems associated with high tide were reported to the Bay of Plenty Times on Monday night when stormwater entered some industrial units in Brook St near Big Save Furniture.
Taylor said it was lucky the storm did not last longer. It meant much of the store remained dry, leaving the bed and bedroom furniture sections of the store and about half of the stockroom impacted by water.
His son Bradley got an early call into work, joining two others on aquavacs to suck up an estimated 1100 litres an hour.
Taylor said he had to get the water out before he could ascertain the extent of the damage. ''An insurance assessor will then put a number on it.''
He estimated the damage would run to more than $10,000.
