A Northland gallery owner says he is thousands of dollars out of pocket after torrential rain poured through a partly completed roof during Queen's Birthday weekend.
Ian McConnachie, owner of Masterpieces Gallery in Kerikeri's clocktower building, said after ongoing trouble with leaks in the neighbouring music store the building's owner had agreed to replace the roof.
Around May 10 the roof-mounted air-conditioning units were removed above his store and a Wellington-based company started work on the roof.
After a few days, however, he said the roofing firm was called away to another job. The roof above the gallery had been replaced but flashing hadn't been installed around the air-conditioning vents.
As a result, when Kerikeri was hit by torrential rain on the Saturday of Queen's Birthday weekend — 96mm fell between midnight and 6pm, or half the monthly average in less than 24 hours — water gushed into the building.