Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

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 / Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua floods: Rising waters trap man, neighbours come to rescue

Zizi Sparks
Zizi Sparks
Multimedia journalist·Rotorua Daily Post·
1 May, 2018 08:13 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

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

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Matt Ward at his property in Paradise Valley. Photo / Stephen Parker

Matt Ward at his property in Paradise Valley. Photo / Stephen Parker

Monique Ward was at home with her family when floodwater started rapidly rising.

Ward rounded up her animals and tried to get some belongings to higher ground.

The house was quickly swamped.

Read more: Rotorua floods: Three months to make EQC claims
Opinion: Rotorua floods - you
sensed something bad was happening
Rotorua flooding worst Ngongotaha residents have seen

Neighbours came to help as Ward's husband, Matt, was left clinging to a tree after being swept away by floodwater.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

With help from a neighbour, he wound up on top of a woodshed before being rescued in a dinghy.

Ward said she was grateful others in Paradise Valley had rallied around to help the couple, but was disappointed other "rubber-neckers" sat nearby and watched.

"There was up to 20 people sitting there getting in the way."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Ward said this was the worst flooding she'd seen in the area and it had taken a long time to drain away.

"The weather is changing and becoming a lot more wilder than usual."

Ward said her property became flooded about 1pm so was surprised to hear the Ngongotaha Stream only breached almost three hours later.

"There must have been a blockage somewhere down there."

Discover more

New Zealand

Rotorua floods: State of Emergency declared in Ngongotaha

29 Apr 09:00 AM
New Zealand

Rotorua flood clean-up begins

30 Apr 03:18 AM
New Zealand

School closed because of damage to bridge

29 Apr 10:33 PM
New Zealand

Mayor and Civil Defence Minister questioned over floods

30 Apr 03:14 AM

Ward said the Bay of Plenty Regional Council had previously subsidised work on the stream near their property, making a corner more stable, but she believed it needed redoing.

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Daily Post

Longer jail time for man who put gun to injured hostage's head, yelling 'I’ll f****** kill him!'

17 Sep 07:00 AM
Premium
Lifestyle

The day Robert Redford landed in NZ – and preferred it to America

17 Sep 02:24 AM
Rotorua Daily Post

Snoop Dogg concert axed after NZ promoter loses name suppression over sex crime

17 Sep 12:41 AM

Sponsored

Kiwi campaign keeps on giving

07 Sep 12:00 PM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Longer jail time for man who put gun to injured hostage's head, yelling 'I’ll f****** kill him!'
Rotorua Daily Post

Longer jail time for man who put gun to injured hostage's head, yelling 'I’ll f****** kill him!'

Crown lawyers argued that Jade Raymond Mellow's sentence was 'manifestly inadequate'.

17 Sep 07:00 AM
Premium
Premium
The day Robert Redford landed in NZ – and preferred it to America
Lifestyle

The day Robert Redford landed in NZ – and preferred it to America

17 Sep 02:24 AM
Snoop Dogg concert axed after NZ promoter loses name suppression over sex crime
Rotorua Daily Post

Snoop Dogg concert axed after NZ promoter loses name suppression over sex crime

17 Sep 12:41 AM


Kiwi campaign keeps on giving
Sponsored

Kiwi campaign keeps on giving

07 Sep 12:00 PM
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
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • 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