Year in Review: January 2018 in the Bay of Plenty brought floods, holidaymakers and rescue for a pooch

Rocky the puppy who was left in a car boot and nearly died was put up for adoption. Photo/ File

JANUARY:
Flooding caused havoc in parts of Tauranga as rising tides and extreme rain battered the city on January 5.

Flights scheduled to land at Tauranga Airport had to be diverted, shipping operations had to be postponed, as did the Bryan Adams concert, and flooding plagued roads and fields around the city.

People in low-lying coastal areas were advised to consider self-evacuating as king tides caused flooding throughout the region.

Tent sites were under water at Silver Birch Holiday Park on Turret Rd and a group of campers had their car and motorbike trapped after the only way out for the vehicles was flooded.

The Wairoa River in Te Puna broke its banks and flooded Te Puna Station Rd, and areas in Maketu were also swamped. Parts of Hairini Bridge were closed as water lapped across the road and businesses in Judea were flooded.

At the peak of the swell wave heights were reaching 7.6m at the Port of Tauranga's A-buoy off the entrance to Tauranga Harbour.

Matua resident George Corban said water in the Matua Estuary was the highest he had seen, having lived in the area since 1964.

Janine Cooney from Trench It in Oak Lane, Judea, in the company's flooded office. Photo/ File

Gail McIntosh, a Tauranga City councillor and former National Party MP who was renowned for being a "straight shooter", passed away on January 4.

McIntosh, 62, passed away at Tauranga Hospital. She left behind a legacy of public service, including driving the redevelopment of the central city.

Tauranga MP Simon Bridges said she was an indispensable member of the National Party and very well known among the party's hierarchy from Bill English down.

A memorial service for Gail McIntosh was held on January 10. Photo/ File

The Bay of Plenty Times reported that holiday homes had become a booming business in the Bay - with one online booking site seeing an 81 per cent increase in listings in the area.

Tauranga and Mount Maunganui were listed as the third most popular holiday destination in New Zealand in January by both Bookabach and AirBnb, the two leading holiday rental websites in the country.

The increase in the number of listings in the city and region was significant on both sites.

There were 368-holiday homes in Tauranga/Mount Maunganui listed on Bookabach in 2015. As at earlier this month, there were 667, an 81.25 per cent rise.

From 2015-16 there was a 43.8 per cent increase in Bookabach listings in Tauranga/Mount Maunganui, and it had continued to grow - 14.4 per cent between 2016 and 2017 and 10.2 per cent between 2017 and 2018.

Rebekah Hynds and her family moved to Tauranga from Auckland and rented out their five-bedroom Matua home as an extra income. Photo/ File

A puppy which narrowly escaped death after bystanders heard it barking inside a car's boot made a "remarkable recovery".

The young shar-pei cross, named Rocky, was believed to have been left for more than an hour inside the boot in sweltering heat while its owner went to the beach at Mount Maunganui on January 21.

Bystanders who heard him barking called the police and eventually the puppy was rescued, cooled down under an outdoor shower and taken to the vets. Rocky was later put up for adoption.