NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Property

Local Focus: Life after Edgecumbe

Jaden McLeod
By Jaden McLeod
VideoJournalist Bay of Plenty, NZH Local Focus·NZ Herald·
22 Sep, 2017 01:45 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

How has life changed for people since Edgecumbe flooded? Made with funding from NZ On Air.

It was an event that shook the town of Edgecumbe to its core.

Husband and wife Deborah Mainwaring and Reuben Coen got out of their College Road home just in the nick of time.

"We got in the car and stopped by the fire truck, which had just arrived. We asked which way we should go. They said Awakeri," says Deborah. "By the time we got to Awakeri, which is only about a six or seven minute drive, we were told the wall had gone.

"Suddenly your life changes because you realise it really has gone and you can't go back."

The night before the flood, Deborah called the three local authorities to warn them of the danger. But no one listened and the Rangitaiki River swamped the town.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Two weeks later, when the couple did return to their home to salvage what they could, they couldn't believe their eyes.

"First you are disoriented because all the boundaries have been ripped away. All the outside has been swept away. When you go inside the house you are contending with the smell, which is dire, it is a horrible smell of silt and sewerage. You are in boots, you don't know what you can touch - if you open a cupboard water pours out. You go completely numb and you don't do the right things at all," says Deborah.

"This is our kitchen...but it's not," adds Reuben. "The abandonment of the place, things were still on the table, things were in the sink that I should have washed before leaving the place, but of course you don't have time to do that. And then leaving the place again, do you lock it? What do you do?"

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Even today, five months on, the couple struggle to return to the place they once called home.

Deborah says a large part of the town has been gutted.

"It is highlighted when you drive through Edgecumbe at night. There is a whole section of the town where there are no lights. There may be people in portacabins with curtains drawn, but you see no lights and it is very spooky. The area of Puriri Crescent and Ngatipu Place where the houses are being stripped, dried and rebuilt - it's completely empty."

At the time of the disaster, reports indicated no fatalities. But the couple say all that's changed.

"What we are seeing is the after-effects, of people getting sick, people having heart attacks and strokes, lots of breakdowns, people not coping and feeling unsettled. People have lost all their neighbours; they're in Kawerau, they're in Te Teko, they are struck out all over the place.

"They are on hold - they don't know what they should be doing. Do they go back? Can they go back? For a lot of them that's a big question."

Reuben believes they received sympathetic treatment from the council negotiator, but struggled with the officiousness of many at their district and regional councils.

"Our lives were being taken over by other people. Other people were telling us what to do and when to do it. We could have no plans for ourselves. We couldn't say we would visit this friend who was a neighbour, because the phone might ring and the phone did ring. That's when we noticed it - our lives are not our own anymore."

Deborah and Reuben have moved to Ohope Beach where they are trying to rebuild their life together.

"We have had settlement with the insurers. But we haven't completed settlement with the council, because the council requires taking our property from us for the purpose of public works."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Deborah and Reuben have made peace with the fact that they will never see their home again, but warn councils across the country to be vigilant when facing the prospect of future disaster.

Made with funding from

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Property

Property
|Updated

Tony Alexander: Four house price drops in a row - why?

Property

'Phenomenally fast' - Agent sells her own house for over $1.8m in just 12 days

Property

Buyers scratching their heads over sale of multi-million-dollar home


Sponsored

Tired of missing out on getting to global summits to help grow your business?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Property

Tony Alexander: Four house price drops in a row - why?
Property
|Updated

Tony Alexander: Four house price drops in a row - why?

The housing market is in a weaker state than many had anticipated.

16 Jul 11:13 PM
'Phenomenally fast' - Agent sells her own house for over $1.8m in just 12 days
Property

'Phenomenally fast' - Agent sells her own house for over $1.8m in just 12 days

16 Jul 06:15 PM
Buyers scratching their heads over sale of multi-million-dollar home
Property

Buyers scratching their heads over sale of multi-million-dollar home

16 Jul 05:38 PM


Tired of missing out on getting to global summits to help grow your business?
Sponsored

Tired of missing out on getting to global summits to help grow your business?

14 Jul 04:48 AM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP