The water was receding by the time daylight arrived, leaving the street covered in mud and debris piled against a fence.
The water was receding by the time daylight arrived, leaving the street covered in mud and debris piled against a fence.
Tahiti Tatai and her family moved into their new address, a Housing NZ property in Allen Bell Drive Kaitaia, less than two months ago.
"We needed a bigger house," she said on Thursday. And yes, her tenancy manager had mentioned that there had been history of flooding.
Lynette Busby's home didn't flood this time, but she had experienced three "majors" in her 17 years in the street. The driver in the background was washed out of No 119 in March.
That history was updated in the early hours of Thursday morning, when heavy rain sent large volumes of water down Donald Road, over Allen Bell Drive and into Ms Tatai's home.
By daylight her anger had subsided sufficiently for her to count her blessings - her six children, aged eight to 15, were safe.
And her furniture could be replaced if it was too badly damaged to save. And Housing NZ would take control of replacing the carpets and repairing other damage.
On the downside, she had been planning to go the bank on Thursday to organise household contents insurance.
Tahiti Tatai in her sodden, muddy kitchen.
Ms Tatai said she had been woken by her father-in-law a little before 3am. When she got out of bed she found herself standing in water. Some of that water was still pooled in bedrooms six hours later.
She called the Kaitaia Fire Brigade at 3.17am, but the crew hadn't been able to do much. She was asked if she and her family would like to be evacuated, but she declined.
A friend came and took the children away, for which she was grateful, but as far as the house was concerned the damage had already been done.
She agreed with her neighbours that the drain carrying water down Donald Road needed cleaning - a council contractor had apparently been scheduled to do the work on Thursday ("A day too late," she said) - and that a bigger pipe was needed to carry water under Allen Bell Drive and to the Whangatane spillway, just over her back fence. Whether or not that happened now didn't really bother her.
The house was a very nice one, she said, and she had thought that it would be her family's long-term home, but she wasn't planning to stay.
On Thursday morning she was squelching her way from room to room, surveying the layer of mud in the lino-covered kitchen and dining area, and waiting for her tenancy manager to arrive. And she was becoming philosophical.
"I can replace the furniture. The kids are the priority, and they're safe," she said.
Water also poured through the house two doors along. That property was unoccupied, while contractors worked at repairing damage done by floodwater after heavy rain in May. A plasterer had been due to begin work on Thursday, with painting and wallpapering scheduled for this week and the laying of new carpets next week.
On Thursday morning the process of removing mud and water began again.
Between the two houses a relieved Lynette Busby was enjoying a coffee and watching cars navigate the water and mud that still covered the road.
She had lived at that address for 17 years, she said, during which time she had experienced three "majors" after heavy rain, but this time the water rushed past her front door and did not enter the house (which is significantly higher than those on either side). Water did go through a car parked on her front lawn though.
