'There was no warning - we had to evacuate'

MUDDIED: Kim Brewer and stepdaughter Alisha Takarangi return to Ms Brewer's house to clean up.PHOTO/ LAUREL STOWELL 230615WCSLSWAITOTARA

"He pulled the cuffs out and my 10-year-old daughter started to scream so I knew I just had to go," Kim Brewer said.

She and her partner and two daughters were watching the Waitotara River rise on Saturday.

About 10.30pm police and fire brigade staff came to the door and told them they had five minutes to grab whatever they wanted and then they had to leave.

"They all stormed through my house. They had no right even going through my house," Ms Brewer said.

Further down the road her father, Roma Brewer, also refused to leave and was allegedly knocked to the ground. His neighbour Dot Bowlin also refused and was allegedly pushed to the ground and handcuffed.

She said she wasn't even able to shut her door, and had been planning to stay and look after her cat, chooks and sheep.

"My sheep could have been drowned and if they had been there would have been bloody trouble."

The residents forced to evacuate on Saturday night say they will make a complaint, and have talked to Whanganui MP Chester Borrows.

Ms Brewer said Waverley policeman Brian Rook had earlier told them they should perhaps leave if they had somewhere to go.

"There was no warning - we had to evacuate."

They had been planning to carry on raising furniture and head to her father's house, on higher ground, in two hours.

There were buses waiting to take them to Waverley, but Ms Brewer's family left in their own car with their two dogs. They were told there would be kennels for the dogs and accommodation for them in Waverley, but she said this did not eventuate.

"There was a couple that offered us a bed, but we couldn't take our dogs and we couldn't leave our dogs by themselves."

They slept in their car and went back to Waitotara at 7am.

The village was still flooded, but not as high as it was in 2004. They waited an hour for the water to go down to get back in their house. The lower room they used as a lounge was flooded, but not the upper kitchen and bedrooms. They still have power, water and phone connections, and Ms Brewer said they were some of the lucky ones.

The village was full of people in clean-up mode yesterday, with diggers at work and agencies going door-to-door.