Hundreds of Hawke's Bay residents are grappling with what the council's zoning of flooded land will mean for them.
It's feared the red-zoning of Esk Valley will leave businesses with no customers, restrict growers' abilities to tend to their crops and turn the area into a ghost town.
It's no surprise Esk Valley resident Steve Wheeler's home will never be lived in again but he can't get his head around not ever being allowed to reside on his land again.
"This was our treasure and it's gone," Wheeler said.
It's a treasure he's struggling to part with.
"We knew very early on that we wouldn't be able to live here again."
He's determined to save his beloved trees and roses - digging dozens of them out of their silty graves.
"Now it's our mission to do the best for the ground, and we have to do that," Wheeler said. "We will cope, we're in mourning... But we'll get past it."
Down the road restaurant owner Greg Miller is also trying to stay positive.
"It's pretty frustrating, I spent 11 years here, putting my blood, sweat, tears into this business. Not knowing how it looks moving forward is the hardest part mentally," Miller said.
With the valley effectively red-zoned he's lost hundreds of regular customers overnight.
"It will be a ghost town," Miller said.
"We're going out to our communities, setting up drop-in centres for people to understand the maps and look at ways they can share their information. They've got lots of local knowledge with us and that work will start in a couple of weeks' time," Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said.
Eskdale School is also in category 3. It's deemed a high risk and unsafe although its principal has told parents he's confident it'll remain open.
Locals say the council's categories have left people with more questions than answers.
"There are people in limbo not knowing what's going on," Miller said.
There's also a lot of uncertainty for growers in category 3. Hawke's Bay Regional Council initially told Newshub they weren't sure if growers could keep operating. However, on Friday the mayor said they can.
"People will be able to get on with their crops and grow their fruit and produce," Hazelhurst said.
Donald Crosby has had his entire strawberry-growing operation ruined.
"I had 60,000 plants. Obviously they're all washed away," Crosby said.
His greenhouses now look like skeletons and his strawberry plants are buried deep.
Crosby can replant, but he isn't allowed to live back on-site.
"I need to live where I'm growing otherwise it just doesn't really work," he said. "If a pump fails in a couple of hours I have dead plants."
He's one of many residents who are disappointed with the council's decisions and want more flood prevention measures, rather than just kicking them out.
"Looks like they've just put it in the too-hard basket," he said.
"It's about keeping the community safe and free from risk," Hazlehurst said.
Wheeler said the council is putting lives at risk because it isn't listening to locals' concerns about the fine airborne dust which can cause serious respiratory illness.
He has written to the council, warning about the silica in the dust and calling for immediate action.
"We the residents of the Esk Valley including North Shore Road, Whirinaki and users of the State Highways 2 and 5 in the Esk Valley, face a clear and present danger," he said.
"It is a danger not only to humans but also to all livestock and pets."
He wants grass and other seed to be air-dropped across the entire valley so the dust is fixed into plant roots, reducing the amount of contaminants in the air.
"This is going to happen, we've got to fix it now," he said.
"I think all these things need to be considered and looked at really carefully," the mayor said.
And it's careful consideration this region's residents are urging the council to apply to all its decisions about their homes and livelihoods.
