Many Taranaki residents found themselves stranded over the weekend as the extreme weather led to flooding and slips around the region. A state of emergency for the region was declared on Saturday night, and at the time of going to print is still in place.
While some residents found themselves unable to return home after a weekend away, others found themselves stuck at home, unable to get into town.
The Eastern Taranaki hill country was particularly hard hit, with many areas cut off by slips or fallen trees and without power to their homes.
While the rain had eased by Sunday morning, the clean-up was only just beginning as people started assessing the damage to their homes, land, property and livestock.
"We were cut off Saturday through to Monday morning." Te Wera resident, Gordon Manhire considers himself lucky as his phone and power weren't cut off. "Plenty of people had no power so they were completely stranded." Heading down the road on Sunday to see how far he could go before he reached any slips, Gordon found himself providing a useful service. "I towed about eight people out of the slips, they had gone out with just two wheel drive cars and got themselves stuck."
