The state of emergency has seen small communities all over the North Island pulling together.
None more so than in the normally carefree holiday hotspot of Whangamatā.
Richard Abraham is battling ill health. He was due back in hospital on Monday.
Now he and his wife Nola are battling the wrath of Cyclone Gabrielle after their evacuation on Monday night.
"I let the fire brigade in, I opened the door and I just about got blown over. I really honestly just about got blown over - it was horrendous," Richard said.
But on Tuesday, kindness came from every corner.
Cut off from the outside world, Whangamatā locals had each other and a neighbour's pump that was working overtime.
"They're great, everyone is terrific! Oooh, there goes the pump, that's an exciting noise," Nola said.
Whangamatā local Stu Braithwaite knew 94-year-old Elva Brockel had a moat around her house and went to check on her.
But she insists she has food, she's comfortable and she knows there are others in need.
"We've got another house round the corner that is in a hell of a state. The water is up to your knees," Braithwaite said.
For firefighters, it was a hellish few hours on the tools on Monday night.
"This huge big green flash like a lightning flash, we heard power lines arcing together - you could hear them touching. It was all on and it's on again now," Whangamatā volunteer firefighter Suzanne Barker said.
Until late Tuesday morning, Whangamatā's brigade had to rely on those in need calling for help the old-fashioned way - by sending someone to knock on the station door.
"We lost all internet, that cellphone tower went down, even our old copper lines have gone down," Whangamatā's chief fire officer Nigel Airey told Newshub.
But community spirit was up, even uninhabited holiday homes in the popular hotspot have Dad's Army on the job.
"We've got wheelbarrows, buckets and some gentleman came with a pump and we are pumping it into the wastewater system because we've got nowhere else to put it," local Paul Shanks told Newshub.
And they're giving the shirt off their back to ensure their neighbours are safe.
"That's about little NZ it's still here," Airey said. And they're still finding a reason to smile through it all.
