Mum and kids rescued after waking to find home surrounded by flood in central North Island

An Awakino mother of three rescued from floodwaters surrounding her home says she feels incredibly lucky her family got out when they did.

Jamie Ward woke up at 6am on Tuesday to find a lake surrounding her home.

"We kind of just rushed out and tried to save all the animals. We were successful in that. So that was good. Got them to a little bit of high ground and moved the cars."

She initially did not want to leave and was keeping an eye on the Awakino River.

"The panic sort of started to, you know, come about a bit later and the kids were a bit worried."

Ward said road workers came and checked in on the group - her three children aged 12, 10 and four and an 11-year-old cousin - and said they should probably leave.

"And we're like, 'Oh no, it's all right. We'll just stick around'.

"And then probably about 10 minutes after they left, the local cop came down and said, 'You guys have got to go. It's getting worse'.

"So they loaded us onto one of the working trucks, and kids got a ride in the cop car, and they evacuated us to Mokau.

Ward said about 15 minutes later the tide started to really push in.

"And yeah, it got really bad. So we're probably really lucky to leave when we did."

The children were a little bit shook up but otherwise fine.

Ward reckoned the local cop made a great call which she was grateful for.

"All the neighbours houses have been like, half full of water. I don't think ours got water through the house, just onto the deck. So we're really lucky."

State Highway 3 remains closed between Mōkau and Piopio in the north.

'Pretty horrendous'

Mōkau Butcher owner Bryan Lester was in Awakino yesterday, checking on stock.

"It was pretty horrendous. With the water on the high tide and all the excess water coming down from all of the rivers, it banked up and went across the road and in more than one place in the Awakino Gorge.

"It was up to the bonnet of your ute, really deep. It went over two of the bridges at Awakino and there's a lot of logs and stuff coming down as well. Slash material and just logs in general.

"It's wiped out a whole lot of people's whitebait stands, whitebait nets and sheds.

"People's houses have been flooded. People have been evacuated, yeah, it was not a good scene, really, in Awakino and Mōkau yesterday."

Lester, who posted videos of the flooding to his business' Facebook page, had never seen flooding this bad in Awakino in the six years he had lived there.

John Dunlop was controlling the cordon heading north out of Mōkau towards Awakino.

"So basically, there's been a massive slip. It's come down. It's blocked the road. We're in the processes of cleaning up. We spent all day yesterday doing it. We've got about eight trucks and two diggers just working on this bit here.

"There's another couple of slips further on down. Then we've got the river that's actually flooded out the Awakino Bridge and Ladies Mile."

He said contractors were working to clear access to Awakino itself before they would turn their attention to the Awakino Gorge.

"But the gorge will not be open today. I should think it's going to be blocked for a long time."

Dunlop said conditions yesterday were woeful.

"Well, it was atrocious. I mean, the the river at low tide apparently was 6m higher than it is normally, and we still had the high tide to come in.

"That obviously makes a huge difference when it comes to low-lying paddocks and stock and fences, and then you've got all the whitebait stands and people's implement sheds, and that stuff was floating down the river, along with all the logs and other stuff that's in the water.

"So it's a lot. It's a mess. It's going to take a while to clean up."

Dunlop said several people needed to be evacuated.

"We have had some people that have had the police go and evacuate them, and they've had to move to higher ground, because obviously their houses are in low-lying areas and were starting to flood.

"We've had some, obviously pensioners and people that were vulnerable. Small children, that sort of stuff, that have had to be evacuated out."

He said hopefully they would be able to return soon but could expect to have a significant clean up ahead of them.

Meanwhile, truckie Bob Bennett had to hold up at Mōkau since yesterday afternoon.

"It's one of those things. I didn't realise until I saw all the trucks that we had to have a bit of a wait.

"I sleep in this lot. Too bad. Just plan B."

Bennett had heard trucks might not be allowed through until tomorrow.

Across the road, Wayne Pukeroa's trip hauling fertiliser was also on hold.

He had been roughing it a bit.

"Well, as you can tell, it's not sleeper cab, but yeah, it'll do, it's comfortable enough."

Road closures:

State Highway 3 north of New Plymouth remains closed at Awakino between Mokau and Piopio. There are multiple, smaller slips further south towards New Plymouth.

State Highway 4 remains closed between Eight Mile Junction (the intersection between SH3 and SH4) and Taumarunui.

State Highway 43 Forgotten World Highway remains closed from Whangamōmona to Taumarunui.

In Waikato, SH30 is closed from Te Kuiti and Benneydale, and SH31 is closed between Ngutunui to Oparau.

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