FLASHBACK - The day the tsunami hit Northland

Catching flounder in Northland was never easier than on May 24, 1960.
Large waves had rolled into Northland's east coast the day before - the remnants of a Chilean earthquake which killed about 400 people. Giant waves also raced about 12,000km across the Pacific Ocean and killed 19 people in Hawaii. In Japan, 85 people died.
In Northland, the normal 12-hour tide cycle was reduced to minutes as the sea sucked in and out of the coast.
Tutukaka charter boat operator John Going remembers visiting his parents on May 24 at their guesthouse, on the site of the old Tutukaka Hotel.
Mr Going, who was in his early 20s at the time, said the tide was going in and out every 20 minutes the next day.
"It left boats that were out past the low tide mark high and dry. In between the surges people were running out and getting flounder that had been left stranded by the water going out so quick," Mr Going said.
His mother had witnessed the waves the previous day.
"It woke mum up in the early hours when she heard a roaring and couldn't work out what it was," Mr Going said.
"She looked out and saw these large breakers coming up the harbour. It was very scary when it happened. They were lucky it happened on low tide as if it had been high tide it would have been disastrous for the whole coast. We certainly don't want another one."
Just down the coast at Ngunguru, Jim Main was sound asleep in his waterfront cottage at Ngunguru when the tsunami struck about 5.30am.
He was awoken by a "terrific noise" and found water surging about 30cm deep along his verandah before it flooded his cottage.
When the Northern Advocate spoke to his daughter Betty Murray she was in the cottage. The home has remained in her family for more than 70 years.
"He (Dad) saw the water go right out of the whole Ngunguru basin, then it came back in again three or four times."
Another witness to the 1960 tsunami has maintained a connection to such events. Northland Regional Councillor Peter Jensen is chairman of the Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management Group - a multi-agency group responsible for implementing the region's Civil Defence Plan.
Mr Jensen, who was 27 when he saw the tsunami roll in from a vantage point at McKenzie Bay, Taurikura, said it was an awesome sight watching the tsunami suck the water out of Whangarei Harbour in such a short time.
"The energy needed to do that was amazing. The complexity and scale of the whole thing is mind-boggling. It didn't have big waves and didn't really do any damage, but it was quite remarkable," he said.
At Te Haumi, in the Bay of Islands, the low tide reached the edge of the channel and then an hour or two later was back touching the main road.
Selwyn Deeming, who lives today at Okiato Pt, was skipper of the Opua car ferry the day the remnants of the tidal wave slipped into the harbour.
There was no wave as such just a sudden surge in the dead of night, Mr Deeming remembers. It wasn't enough to wake him at his beachside house, but it did rouse a couple living at the rear of the Opua shop, which, as it does today, hangs over the water.
Mr Deeming was not aware of the situation until he made his first crossing in the ferry. When the cars were loaded the ferry had plenty of water, but just a few minutes later it was sitting stranded on the mud, though not for long.
"It was just amazing," Mr Deeming said this week. "To start with, the tide was racing in and out in as little as 30 minutes or so.
"The harbour looked like a swamp one hour and then like a spring high tide the next. Bits of the harbour that had never been seen before were exposed and they've stayed under water ever since. All the mud was churned up with the tidal action and the water was so dirty."