Bay man and son narrowly escape Edgecumbe floodwaters

A Bay of Plenty man and his 9-year-old son narrowly escaped rapidly rising floodwaters as they fled Edgecumbe this morning.

Glen Fraser and his son Seth had been buying posts at the town's RD1 store.

"It was like a wall of brown water. I threw Seth in the truck and we were out of there," Mr Fraser said.

"We were just in the car park at Edgecumbe about to come home anyway and a lady was driving past on the road, which was still bone dry at that point, and she called out to the worker she knew at RD1 'get out, get out!'.

"I looked across to the direction she was pointing in and there was a wall of brown river water flowing down the road. That's when I realised straight away what had happened. We jumped in the truck and left the area straight away."

Mr Fraser and Seth ploughed through floodwaters to get home in nearby Otakiri. He credited his diesel Land Rover for being able to navigate the flooded roads.

Mr Fraser's home has not suffered any major flooding but he was concerned at the rising level of the Tarawera River.

Seth's school was closed for the day due to surface flooding, not related to the river bursting its banks.

Other residents in the area have said the water has been rising rapidly.

Bay of Plenty Times chief photographer John Borren said from Edgecumbe that the road went from being a little bit wet to completely under water within half an hour.

"The water is still rising.

"One guy was talking about how he had been sitting on his roof watching the water rise until he got rescued.

"Just seconds ago, there were two explosions in the middle of town as two transformers in the main street have just blown up."

Mr Borren said people were still being evacuated by tractors and other vehicles.

The exact number of people being told to leave their homes for higher ground was not clear - it could be as many as 2000.

Water is reported to be coming through the local stopbank.

Mayor Tony Bonne said police were going door-to-door.

He said buses would take people from the fire station, and welfare centres were being set up in Kawerau and Whakatane.