Te Araroa storm flooding: Family survives night clinging to house roof

A mother has described her traumatic experience being trapped with her children on a roof of their creaking home desperate to be rescued from rising floodwaters.

Huia Ngatai climbed on to the roof of her Te Araroa home as floodwaters overwhelmed their property during the weather bomb that hammered the East Coast Wednesday night into the early hours of Thursday morning.

At about 2am the water was at a level near the bridge at the edge of the property that “didn’t feel right” despite never having had flooding issues before, she said.

“We [Ngatai and her partner] went home and woke our kids, planning to put them into the truck as a precaution.

“Within about five minutes of doing that, we saw our vehicles start floating down the driveway.

“Everything happened so fast. We realised straightaway it was too late.”

Damage in Te Araroa after severe weather hit the North Island on Wednesday. Photo / Maree Brownlie

A wall of water rushed toward the family, which the mother described as a “tsunami”, and they were forced to climb on to the roof.

“It was absolutely terrifying. My children were screaming and crying, and we were all in shock.”

As they moved toward the highest point, the deck roof suddenly collapsed.

“By that point the water had risen within seconds to the bottom of the roof, rushing down both sides of the house. We could feel the house moving and creaking underneath us.”

Ngatai described the noise as “unreal”, with boulders crashing like thunder, trees breaking and non-stop heavy rain.

While the family huddled together for warmth, emergency services called her, advising them to stay on the roof and keep calm.

“I was completely distressed and kept begging for a helicopter. There were emergency crews nearby, but they couldn’t reach us because it was too dangerous.

“I kept telling them we were basically sitting in a river and ground rescue wasn’t possible.”

The thought of helicopters being unable to reach the family made Ngatai believe they were about to die, but she had her sister on the phone, providing updates and pushing for help.

Ngatai credited a pūriri tree behind the house with helping to save them, as it helped to divert floodwater around it.

As daylight came, the floodwaters started to drop and revealed extensive damage, including vehicles flipped upside down.

The family climbed down from the roof and were greeted by emergency services at the end of the road.

They were later airlifted to the Te Araroa health clinic.