Some Far North residents evacuated from their homes didn’t realise how severe the flooding was until emergency services knocked on their doors.
Police estimated between 400 to 500 people were evacuated from Kaitāia last night amid fears the Awanui River was flooding.
Kaitāia chief fire officer Craig Rogers said his volunteer fire brigade helped evacuate about 116 houses in a joint taskforce with police, the New Zealand Defence Force and Civil Defence.
Water began to spill over the river’s stopbanks behind Bells Produce about 7.30pm, prompting emergency services to look at evacuating nearby homes.
“It didn’t blow the banks, it was just breaching, so it was just running over,” Rogers said.
“We weren’t sure where the flooding was going to be, and as it turned out, where it was was somewhere we’ve never had flooding before.”
Firefighters and police first knocked on the doors of homes closer to the flooding, but switched to an all-out evacuation as it was still early.
Rogers said evacuations became forced as it was safer.
“Once the call was made to make it forced ... we sort of ramped it up a little bit,” Rogers said.
The evacuation order was made about 9.30pm, leading to homes along North Rd, North Park Drive, Donald Rd, Matilda Place, and Davis St all being door-knocked.
Rogers said some people refused to leave, while others were surprised to see the scale of the flooding, especially as the rain had stopped.
“ ... Everyone thought it was okay, and then we opened the door and it was like ‘Holy heck, there’s water all around the houses’.
“So they weren’t aware of actually how severe it was getting,” Rogers said.
Kaitāia local Robyn Shackleton said they had “a flowing river going down our street” before they were evacuated on Thursday night.
She watched water rise over her road before Fire and Emergency New Zealand and the Army services arrived.
“We’re standing here at midnight and there was no wind, there were stars in the sky and there was just this force of water coming through the road, just slowly building up and building up like we were getting a riverside property,” Shackleton said.
“ ... It was quite eerie.”
Kaitāia resident Dave Arrell said emergency services arrived at midnight to take them away. The road had been covered in more than a metre of floodwaters, he said.
Though floods didn’t breach his home, he estimated some houses on the street had about six inches (15cm) of water go through.
“It’s no fun. You don’t wish it on anybody and the whole country’s been getting dealt to, so we’re all getting a turn, it seems.”
“I could do with a bit more sleep,” he said.
Sandra Shackleton was busy helping clean her father’s home on Donalds Lane on Friday when she spoke with the Herald.
Her 91-year-old father, who relies upon a walker, was evacuated from his home last night.
He was taken from his home to the top of the road before getting picked up by what Shakleton believed to be a Unimog.
She said there didn’t appear to be any damage in his home, though they were waiting on builders to check it.
“ ... When I was a child living here, we actually got evacuated three times. But that was because there were no stopbanks, there was nothing to prevent flooding,” she said.
“But we never had any events like this.”
Donalds Lane resident Cecil Walker said the flooding was the worst he’d seen since moving to his property 20 years ago.
He was evacuated by emergency services between 9.30 and 10pm last night, as water reached about knee height through his front yard and garage.
His home was not flooded.
Rogers said a Unimog sent to the Far North proved invaluable for getting to areas where water was deeper. The local 4WD group also helped.
“It was a community effort really,” Rogers said.
Evacuees were encouraged to go somewhere with friends and family. Civil Defence said about 40 people sought shelter at Kaitāia College.
Rogers said the evacuations had been a precaution, which later had been reassuring after learning water had reached some of the evacuated homes.
“The bulk of those houses though, the water couldn’t actually [go] through them. They were just surrounded.
“We were definitely well organised and well prepared.”
Far North Kahika Moko Tepania hoped to get whānau into their homes as soon as possible.
He said having the State of Emergency in place was good as it meant they had been able to order the evacuation.
MetService estimated Kaitāia received more than double its monthly rainfall in two days.
Photos shared online on Thursday evening showed much of northern Kaitāia submerged.
Muddy water still surrounded the carpark and surrounding area of Pak’nSave Kaitāia this morning.
A Foodstuffs spokesperson said those places had been impacted after flood protection along the river “gave way”.
The shop itself was not flooded.
The fuel station was flooded and remains closed.
“We’re assessing the damage and will reopen it as soon as it’s safe to do so.”
Other impacted areas included the Ministry of Social Development building, which had about 16cm of water go through it.
Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whangārei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.