Clean-up begins in flooded East Coast

A major clean-up operation is beginning on the North Island's East Coast today after the worst floods in the region since Cyclone Bola.

Two days of torrential rain caused serious flooding - closing roads, forcing some families from their homes and trapping others in cars or outside overnight.

One local caught in the deluge called it "the worst nightmare I've ever had".

Gisborne, Wairoa, Tolaga Bay and Ruatoria were cut off by road, with some residents having to be airlifted to safety and travellers seeking shelter in local marae.

More than 50 people were forced from their homes, but the financial cost of the disaster is still to be calculated.

Tourists also found their travel disrupted, with many roads blocked by slips. Thousands of people had been expected in the region for the Gisborne Wine and Food Festival today.

More than 1200mm of rain fell on the coast over Friday and Saturday, including 370mm in Hikuwai, near Tokomaru Bay, 365mm in Te Puia Springs, around 180mm in Gisborne and another 280mm throughout Napier and Hastings.

In Tolaga Bay, one of the worst-hit areas, several families were choppered to safety yesterday morning after spending the night stranded on a hillside.

In Frasertown, near Wairoa, a police car was spotted underwater with its lights still on.

By last night the worst was over and the clean-up was well underway, with emergency staff working overtime to clear roads and restore services.

"We have basically finished the response phase and we are just heading into what we can do to help those who have been affected," said Gisborne civil defence controller John Davies.

The recovery effort will be managed by former Gisborne mayor John Clarke, who also experienced the 1988 Cyclone Bola floods.

Mr Davies said assessment teams would start inspections this morning to survey the damage and begin estimating the cost.

"We won't know what damage has been done until the water recedes and we see the crops underneath," he said.

State Highway 2 from Opotiki to Te Karaka was due to open at 6am this morning, and civil defence staff would also decide whether to open the stretch from Napier to Gisborne.

State Highway 35 from Gisborne to Ruatoria was open to Tolaga Bay and marginal through Tokomaru Bay and Ruatoria, but will be closed from Ruatoria North for the next few days.

Power had been restored in Gisborne after a blackout had paralysed the entire city, forcing supermarkets to use backup generators to clear huge queues.

Elsewhere, about 130 households were still without power last night.

MetService lead forecaster Allister Forman said other than some showers expected in Gisborne this morning, the forecast was for fine weather throughout Gisborne and Hawke's Bay for most of the week.

Beginning on Friday, the downpour throughout the Gisborne region and Hawke's Bay caused power cuts and loss of telephone coverage.

One family spent a long, wet night taking shelter in a loft on their property near Tolaga Bay on Friday night as flood waters lapped at their front door.

Vernon and Linda Gough and their two teenage daughters were stranded on their 39-acre farm after authorities said there was no way for emergency services to reach them.

Despite experiencing four floods in five years on the property, the couple said they had never seen anything like the surging waters of this deluge.

Mrs Gough said she first noticed the river rising to alarming levels around 9.30am on Friday and she and her husband moved quickly to move stock and electrical farming equipment to safety.

Daughter Kate swam about 50m to a nearby horse float and tied it down to prevent it from being swept away.

"At 10pm when I checked outside at high tide it was a raging torrent," Mrs Gough said.

By 6am yesterday, the waters had receded and the family farm was covered in about a metre of silt in places.

In Tolaga Bay, Te Rawheoro Marae became a civil emergency centre from Friday evening, with around 20 people there yesterday afternoon. "We've been feeding people as they've been coming and they've been going to sleep at different times," said chairman Padre Bill Gray.

One temporary resident of the marae, 50-year-old Mereana Arnold, described being trapped by the flood waters as "the worst nightmare I've ever had".

She was driving from Whakatane to a friend's 60th birthday party near Tokomaru Bay when the downpour began to impede her progress. "We had to turn back because the water was up to the level of the car window," she said.

After reversing and taking a different route through the hills, they became trapped in a deluged gorge with six other cars and a campervan - heeding advice from the other drivers to stop there for the night.

"It was raining all night but we had a station wagon so we pulled down the seat and I slept at the back and my friend who owns the car slept in the front."

By yesterday afternoon flood waters were draining from the Gisborne Plains, leaving many landowners tallying the cost of newly planted crops lost in the deluge.

Large areas of lower lying land used for seasonal crops such as export squash, sweetcorn, maize and vegetables, were still under water. Most vineyards and citrus orchards were draining rapidly, minimising the risk of permanent damage.

Civil Defence said flood levels throughout much of the Gisborne region were as bad as they were during the 1988 Cyclone Bola flood. However, indications were that there had not been the same widespread erosion and silt.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY