The past year has been spent trying to fix the damage inflicted by Cyclone Gabrielle after it tore through Northland in February last year.
Strong winds, torrential downpours and swollen seas lashed the region for days.
Northlanders were forced to hunker down - thousands of them left without power - and ride out the storm. However, some fell victim to the elements and had to evacuate their homes as floodwaters rose or fires ignited.
Repairs have slowly being unfolding in a bid to erase the last marks of Gabrielle’s wrath but infrastructure, like the roads, still bears the scars. Cyclone Gabrielle highlighted Northland’s fragility, and now councils and Civil Defence are working hard to strengthen the region’s resilience as climate change is expected to bring more extreme weather events in the future.