At Kauangaroa, the Cranstones had 10 unexpected guests on Saturday night ... while low-lying houses were empty.
Cath and Mike Cranstone were listening to a civil defence radio all day in their home on high ground. At first they were told the Whangaehu River in their valley would peak at eight metres - but about 4pm the predicted peak was dramatically increased to 13m.
People raced around moving stock.
"All the stock was moved - stock mortalities are next to nothing here. People were still doing that in the dark," Mrs Cranstone said.
People in the four occupied houses in the dip by the river moved out and, with the river peaking at around 10pm, those houses were flooded. Water didn't get into the meeting house at the marae, but there was water up to its doors.