Rangiwhetu arrived home from the gym early yesterday morning and there was no flooding on her property.
However, in a matter of minutes, the water level outside had reached her tyres and "was filling up like a pool".
Flooding in the front yard of the Rotorua home. Photo / Supplied
She called the fire brigade, who turned up within minutes and helped remove water from the property.
The support worker was disappointed her car was now unusable and she couldn't go to work as transporting clients was part of her job.
"It is the fourth time this has happened to us and it is not good enough. We have another big clean-up to do and my new car - that isn't even a year old - needs to be professionally dried."
However, Rangiwhetu remained grateful her children were safe and the rest of her house was dry.
Glenholme resident Mike Baker was woken up by his wife at 5am to find water "lapping at the door" with his front yard flooded up to his calf muscles.
The water made its way into the house and damaged the kitchen, lounge, hallway and garage.
He said the carpet throughout the house was ruined, along with kitchen cabinetry and an internal garage door.
Most of the house was covered in towels and old clothes trying to soak up the remaining water yesterday, he said.
He had taken the day off work to clean up.
Drainage on the road was blocked and "couldn't cope" with the downpour, he said.
Baker said a fire crew turned up to help but drains had already started to clear.
Sandbags were used to stop water entering the Parnell residence in Glenholme this morning. Photo / Supplied
Baker said the flooding had "come back to haunt us" as the home had been badly impacted in the 2018 floods.
Another Glenholme resident Chris Parnell said it had been a "pretty stressful morning" after heavy rain resulted in the downstairs level of his home flooding.
He described the flooding as "significant", with some household items and furnishings damaged. Parnell woke up in the middle of the night to find the backyard filling up with water.
"It was like a pool out the back. One of the rooms is carpeted and filled up with water. It is going to be a big clean-up."
MetService issued a fresh heavy rain warning for the region yesterday morning saying it could expect a further 80 to 120mm of rain until 9pm. A heavy rain watch was also in place for Taupō.
A MetService spokesman said Rotorua had 54.8mm of rainfall as of 8am yesterday morning.
Rotorua Lakes Council said a wastewater overflow had occurred at the Wastewater Treatment Plant inlet pumps around 7.30am yesterday
It was caused by the significant amount of stormwater entering the wastewater network and temporarily exceeding the capacity of the plant to process it, the council said.
The wastewater, unable to be processed, overflowed into a nearby stormwater drain which leads to Lake Rotorua at Sulphur Bay. The council said the overflows were not the result of any equipment failure.
The overflow had stopped and sampling of the nearby stormwater network was underway.
Council also said Fulton Hogan crews had attended numerous weather-related call-outs.
Meanwhile, roads in the Bay of Plenty town of Edgecumbe were closed due to "extensive" flooding.
Rotorua Girls' High School students and staff were dealing with both the flooding and major power cuts yesterday.
Drying up at Rotorua Girls' High School. Photo / Supplied
Principal Sarah Davis said a large part of the school's admin block had flooded.
A building design fault, which she had been aware of for some time, also meant water was entering through the ceiling.
She said it was "less than ideal timing" as all students only returned back to school on Tuesday after remote learning last week due to rising Covid cases.
However, she was pleased that the classrooms had not been impacted.
Rotorua Lakes Council staff were also working to drain surface flooding at Rotorua Intermediate.
Principal Garry De Thierry said there was "quite a bit of surface water" on the school grounds, but no internal water damage.
