'Warzone': East Coast flooding damage comes to light

2:17 pm on 22 January 2026

A Te Araroa woman who spent the night in her car as water levels rose says by daylight, there was devastation as far as the eye could see.

Philippa Wright lives near the Punaruku Stream. On Wednesday night she moved to higher ground in her car with her grandson as the stream levels rose.

Wright then heard a "big rumble" followed by a torrent of water. She says all sorts of stuff started pouring out of their neighbours driveway, including horse floats and baths.

Wright says there had been several slips which affected the Punaruku Stream.

"Now it's going through my home. My home looks like mud and logs."

Wright said one slip was behind the home of the family that spent the night on their roof.

"Their house is just surrounded by big logs and rocks and mud. It's a write-off, a complete write-off."

But Wright said the family, who had since been airlifted out, were okay. Wright had also been helicoptered out of the area.

Flood damage in Punaruku, Te Araroa on the East Coast.

Te Araroa on the East Coast. Photo: Supplied

Te Araroa, Onepoto, and Wharekahika worst affected

Gisborne District Council said there had been severe flooding and slips in parts of the North Island's East Cape.

The region had been deluged, causing highway closures and knocking out power to some properties.

The council said the small settlements of Te Araroa, Onepoto, and Wharekahika were worst affected. It said people had been evacuated from the roofs of two properties and a campground.

All people were accounted for and safe.

Meanwhile, five properties had been damaged by slips.

Te Araroa. Photo: Supplied

Pictures emerge of damage in Te Araroa on the East Coast

Pictures have emerged of damage in Te Araroa on the East Coast.

Emergency Minister Mark Mitchell told RNZ the area was "like a warzone", and a group of seven were rescued from a roof in Hick's Bay.

It remained cut off by road, with State Highway 35 closed from Tolaga Bay to Opotiki. Okitu to Tolaga Bay has reopened, but people are being warned to avoid any unnecessary travel.

Images from Punaruku show washed out roads, houses inundated with woody debris and brown flood water, and cars and fences buried half a metre or more in mud.

There are more than 300 homes on the East Coast without power. Photo: Supplied

Police said seven people trapped on a roof in Te Araroa were rescued by Fire and Emergency (FENZ) and were being evacuated by helicopter for medical assessment.

Maree Brownlie, who ran the Twilight Coffee Garden in Te Araroa, told RNZ it was a family nearby - including their small children - who were rescued after being up on their roof for hours.

There are more than 300 homes on the East Coast, including Wairoa, without power.

From the air

Meanwhile, RNZ reporter Kate Green took off from Whakatane Airport on Thursday morning to survey the damage from above.

River levels were high, and the water was brown, with some woody debris present, snaking through the land and occasionally overtopping the banks to flood farmland on either side.

According to locals, in these parts, the damage was not as bad as that caused by Cyclone Gabrielle.