Holiday hamlet havoc as flash floods strike

A huge clean-up was under way on the Coromandel peninsula yesterday after torrential rain caused serious flooding, overflowing sewage and massive slips.

The holiday settlement of Hahei on the East Coast was the worst hit in Friday's dramatic downpour, which dumped more than 170mm of rain over a sustained three-hour period.

There was more rain yesterday - around 50mm on Coromandel - but it caused no further damage there and torrential rain shortly after 6am in Auckland caused only minor flooding.

Three houses were left uninhabitable in Hahei and Auckland couple Peter and Maryanne Mahoney's holiday home was left teetering after a torrent stripped earth, grass and trees from the side of the property. It was one of about six big slips to hit hills on the eastern side of Hahei.

Builder Bernie O'Connell said yesterday that if another 2m of earth had gone the house would have collapsed onto homes below.

The water from Friday's downpour swept down a gully, just missing the Hahei home of Jared and Keryn Henderson, pouring onto their lawn and the street. The Hendersons had just arrived back home from a holiday in the Caribbean yesterday and said they were shocked by the damage.

Down the road, Gae and Gain Carrington had a stressful night as the storm swept sewage and stormwater through the lower floor of their house. It was the biggest storm they had seen in 19 years' living there.

When the noise woke Mrs Carrington at 5am she could only save a few prized possessions.

"I only had enough time to grab some rugby books. I could see the freezer float up and fall on its back. It was like a dream. It was quite unbelievable - it happened so quickly. It was coming from everywhere."

Mr Carrington waded through the knee-high waters to the nearby home of a volunteer firefighter. From there they called the fire brigade.

But a stream running next to the Carrington's home broke its banks and made the bridge impassable. In the end the fire truck forced its way across the stream, but there was nothing that could be done to save their home.

"No amount of sandbagging could have saved it," said Mr Carrington.

Mrs Carrington said yesterday she had no idea where they would spend the night. "We can't sleep here, the smell is too bad. I've never seen anything like this, ever. It's devastating."

Surprisingly, while Hahei was drenched with about 175 mm of water, in Whitianga, 50km up the road, only 45mm fell.

Met Service forecaster Andy Downs said the thunderstorm was extremely slow-moving, and stalled over Hahei. More heavy showers were possible over the weekend, but the worst was over, he said.

Sergeant Jim Corbett of Thames police said it was hard to calculate the cost of the clean-up. Those most affected were likely to be farmers who had lost their stock.