Dargaville spared high tide flood but not surface water

BAGGED: Many people turned out to help sandbag the shop entrances in Dargaville's CBD.

Dargaville shops were spared floodwater entering them this afternoon as the king tide peaked in the Northern Wairoa River.

Council and emergency services will monitor the situation again in the early hours of this morning , when winds turning to the west could ''hold up'' the next high tide.

Shallow flooding through the town's main shopping road, Victoria St, at about 4pm was the result of surface rain water backing up, not the river spilling its banks, Dargaville Fire Chief Michael Ross said.

A sandbagging drive saw a combined effort by Kaipara District Council staff, fire crews and shopkeepers working hard to put a barrier between the rising waters and the buildings' entrances.

Mr Ross described the effort as ``a fantastic team effort'', with many council staff joining in the chain gang putting sandbags in place.

Only a couple of buildings near the river bank had water seep under their doors - luckily fairly clean water, unlike that which the river would have delivered.