A Tokomaru Bay resident says they're heartbroken after severe weather wreaked havoc on communities in the East Coast of the North Island.
Tairāwhiti Civil Defence controller Dave Wilson told AM about a dozen families have been relocated from Manutuke and Te Karaka after rivers reached dangerous levels.
MetService said Gisborne Airport recorded a "March worth of rain" in seven hours and are warning of further rain on Thursday but at lower intensities.
Tokomaru Bay resident Lillian Te Hau Ward told AM the conditions overnight were "diabolical" and she's hoping they improve today.
"A bit of a touch and go [last] night but the rain has stopped, so fingers crossed we are pretty good up here," she told AM.
"Yesterday it was just diabolical. It was just throw your hands up in the air and hope for the rain to stop really, there was nothing we could do.
"A lot of the whānau had evacuated on Tuesday night and the early hours of Wednesday morning, thanks to some loving locals who did over-and-above what locals should do."
Te Hau Ward said the severe weather is taking a toll on the East Coast community, which is still recovering from the last floods in 2021.
"Our whānau home is on Arthur Street, which was hit heavily in the June 2021 floods, unfortunately, the same houses have been taken again by the floods, so really, really heartbreaking for our neighbours," She told AM.
"One neighbour has relocated to live with my mum across the road. You will see the back of a bus in the background.
"The neighbour that has relocated to live with us, she lost her second caravan on Tuesday night.
"Her brother who lives right next door, he lost the campervan that he was living in while waiting for his house to be fixed from June 20th last year, so really, really devastating for our whānau who live along Arthur Street."
Te Hau Ward said elderly residents have also been forced to evacuate, which is causing stress.
"It's devastating. One aunty, we've relocated her but the last time [2021 floods] we didn't because of her health," she said.
"This time she had to be relocated and she is really confused. All she wants to do is go home but we can't do that."
The Kiwi spirit was on full show in the Tokomaru Bay community over the past 24 hours, with locals coming up with a creative way to get supplies over the Mangahauini Bridge in Tokomaru Bay, which was washed out by the flooding.
Te Hau Ward said her community is receiving enough support but the broken infrastructure due to the weather is making things challenging.
"I am on all the civil defence check-ins and the team in Gisborne are trying their best to get support up to us but with the roads closed, it's frustrating, to say the least," she told AM.
"We are a resilient community, New Zealand would've seen the drop out in the bridge, we have actually used a rope and a bucket to get supplies across that drop-out, especially petrol.
"We have whānau who are reliant on generators and they have health issues, so we didn't have a choice to try to get petrol and provisions across that bridge yesterday."
Watch full interview above.
