Te Araroa evacuees overwhelmed by 'aroha' extended to them at East Coast marae

Sjaak van Unnik believes he's gained a lot of aunties and uncles on the East Coast.

The Dutchman and his wife, Hessel Mulder, are among about a dozen people who've taken refuge at Hinerupe Marae, after last week's destructive storm ripped through Te Araroa.

Follow updates on the weather aftermath with RNZ's blog

The pair had been in their cabin at Te Araroa Holiday Park on 21 January when the campground was transformed into a raging torrent overnight.

Van Unnik said it was the sound that woke him.

"Enormous noise, at first you think it's just the rain, then you realise it's not just rain - it's a lot more than rain."

Te Araroa was one of the worst hit areas on the East Coast. It has been likened to a 'war zone,' and in the morning, van Unnik saw the destruction.

"You could see the meadow behind us - which was just an empty meadow - and now it was totally filled with wood, s**t.

"And the whole campsite was just a river. We lost water, we lost electricity and basically we had to get out."

Grabbing phones, chargers, and about "three pieces of underwear" the couple left, wading through the still flowing water, and picking their way over rocks and debris with the help of firefighters.

Vehicle 'goneburgers'

Nearby, after a sleepless night monitoring the water, Levin volunteer firefighter Byron Glover and his family, were doing the same.

"We'd seen the water turn a mud, silt colour, we knew obviously there'd been some slips happening around the area."

They had let their children, 9 and 6, sleep so as not to "traumatise" them, but woke them up to self-evacuate at first light.

"When we'd seen the water had subsided a bit so, we deemed it safe to do so, between myself and missus piggybacking the kids to safety.

"We decided, 'Nah we'll just take the clothes on our back only.' Looking at the vehicle, that was pretty much goneburgers."

'Astonishing' level of support at marae

Van Unnik, Mulder, and Glover's family were helicoptered out, and bar one trip back to the campground to grab supplies, have been sheltering at Hinerupe Marae ever since.

As the Te Araroa Civil Defence hub and welfare centre, the marae is humming with about 30 to 40 people at any one time.

Civil Defence coordinator Tash Wanoa said of those, between 14 and 19 people were staying every night.

The logistics meant there were a lot of unsung heroes behind the scenes.

The tourists said the hospitality they'd received had been "astonishing" and the "silver-lining" following the storm.

"It's been nothing but unity," Glover told RNZ.

"The wraparound support from them has been outstanding and also the amount of aroha that's been given throughout."

Van Unnik said: "It's amazing. Really amazing."

"This is not a very rich community, they don't have a lot, but I understood they're going around gardens of people, with consent obviously, and just picking everything which is okay to be eaten.

"And bringing that to the marae to cook."

The families had also been mucking in where they could, helping out in the kitchen - with van Unnik and Mulder making a classic Dutch dish, hutspot - and Glover also lending a hand in the local fire brigade.

Glover said although his family was a priority to be evacuated to Gisborne, they weren't in any rush, and felt like they'd been welcomed into the whānau.

He wasn't the only one.

"We're gaining a lot of aunties and uncles here. We're part of the family basically ... that's how it feels," van Unnik said.

"We're very grateful for that. It's of course not what we planned, but this is an experience nobody will ever take away from us."

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