Felled tree traps Waikato family in home

Estelle, 7, gets a day off school with her sister Ivy after a tree crashed down over their driveway in Rotoorangi, Waikato. Photo / Supplied

A Waikato family are trapped in their home after a massive tree crashed over their driveway.

Shannon Felton says she was getting her daughter Estelle, 7, ready for school in the farming settlement of Rotoorangi about 7am.

She was also caring for her 15-month-old daughter Ivy, and Estelle had to be at school by 7.30am in Cambridge as her class was going on a trip to Mt Maunganui.

The tree will probably take all day to clear. Photo / Supplied

She said the wool shed had also been flapping in the wind.

The rain was pelting down and the wind had picked up, in a deluge that caused widespread flooding throughout the Coromandel and Auckland regions overnight.

"I was in the laundry and looked out the window and saw the tree," Felton said.

"At that point, it felt like the whole house was going to take off."

Chainsaws are being used to cut up the tree. Photo / supplied

Felton's fiance Tristan Mclean and his workmates are cutting it up.

"They are going to be there for hours. It's so big. Their whole day is consumed by the tree."

"I thought the tin was going to take off."