Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has visited the flood-affected Tairāwhiti region to see the impacts of this week's devastating floods.
Roads are still closed and a state of emergency remains in place for the flood-prone area, but Ardern says any future-proofing needs to be led locally.
For some in the area, it isn't the first time their houses have beenruined by floodwaters.
"Insurance doesn't cover everything so we poured a substantial amount of money into this house to bring it up to standard," one homeowner told the Prime Minister.
Only for it to be hit even harder again.
All the inundated properties have had it worse this time around while still in clean-up mode from the last major flood there.
"[It was] very scary for my mum. She was asleep and she was woken up to evacuate," a resident says.
The Government has contributed $175,000 to the clean-up so far, but no more was announced on Sunday.
"It really comes down to what we can do as quickly as we can to support people who, in many cases, are already having conversations with EQC and their insurers," Ardern says.
Emergency Management Minister Kiri Allan says there will be ongoing work to help the flood-affected communities.
"We'll be working closely alongside council, iwis, and the rural communities that are really in dire straits as to what the ongoing needs will be."
This is the second major flood alongside several other significant weather events to hit the area in the past year.
Small rural communities remain isolated. One washed-out bridge is cutting off the major route north of Tokomaru Bay and one school is now a giant mud pit.
The Government is defending the funding of infrastructure to protect the area from ongoing weather-related damage.
"We do have significant infrastructure issues that over decades have needed ongoing maintenance and care and there's a lot of work now being done," Ardern says.
Ardern says land use also needs to be looked at by local and central Government and forestry companies, with slash a major problem in these floods.
She says climate change future-proofing for these most vulnerable parts of New Zealand needs to be locally-led.
"It is for us to come in here and support the local solutions and what the community wants going forward," Ardern says.
The clean up now continues.
"This community is good, they get together when things happen and they're good, resilient people," one local police officer says.
Resilient but also wary about when the next one will hit - with more wild weather forecast for Monday.
