Northland flooding evacuees still can not go home after five months

More than five months after a series of violent storms battered Northland's east coast, some evacuees still can not go home - because they no longer have homes to go to.

The displaced include Aroha Samuels and Willy Thompson, who first knew how bad the storm was when they woke up on 18 January in knee-deep water.

"Around quarter to five that morning, Willy got up and he wondered why there was water up to his knees inside the caravan," Samuels said.

"We had to sit there, we couldn't get out. We couldn't open the door because the water was just rushing past. So we sat in our caravan waiting till daylight. There was just water everywhere."

Once the flood started receding, the couple tried to rescue some of their belongings, but it was futile.

"We just didn't know what to do. We were lost because all our stuff, we could see it floating down the river. We were told, come up to the marae. So we came up here just with what we had on our backs because everything, our clothing, our bedding, everything was saturated and muddy."

They were among many who sought refuge at Ngātiwai Marae, in the tiny settlement of Ngāiotōngā, about 50 kilometres north of Whangārei.

A bridge just north of Ngāiotōngā had been washed out and the road south was blocked by slips, so the marae soon filled up with stranded travellers and locals seeking shelter, kai and showers.

The tight-knit local community donated replacement bedding and clothing, and took turns cooking for their unexpected guests.

There were similar scenes at many of the 14 marae affiliated to coastal iwi Ngātiwai.

Most evacuees went home as the storm abated, but some, including Samuels and Thompson, no longer had homes to go to.

Five months later they, and three others in similar circumstances, are still at the marae with their lives in limbo.

The marae has arranged campervans for them to sleep in and has put many regular activities on hold - expect for tangi - so the displaced whānau can feel, as much as possible, they are in their own home.

Sam Tamihana, who turns 70 next month, was living in a caravan on whānau land when the gale blew out the door and three windows.

He said he had never experienced a storm like it.

"I tried to go down the creek, to find everything that we'd lost, but just couldn't find nothing, it was gone. I've never seen a flood come up so fast in the area. One night of rain it did it, the creek came up a good six metres," he said.

"We've been through Bola and Gabrielle, but they didn't do half the damage as this one-nighter did. It took everything we owned. It was just devastating."

Tamihana said he was stubborn and did not want to go to the marae at first.

"But I had nowhere else to go."

Rob Tamihana, who was also living in a caravan on family land, was dropping his children off in Auckland when the storm hit.

"It just went through my whole caravan, took everything, everything that I had accumulated for my kids, gone down the creek. But I'm so grateful they weren't there at the time. I think my tūpuna [ancestors] were looking out for me, big time."

Karlene Wakefield, a kaimanaaki [support person] for Ngātiwai Trust Board, said there had been no let-up in the recovery since January.

"We're still in the thick of it. We've still got a lot of raw things that we're working through. People are still suffering."

Wakefield said few people outside the Whangaruru area, on the east coast north of Whangārei, realised whānau were still homeless as a result of the storms.

"We only have to go to Russell, just over the hill, and they're shocked to find that we've still got people displaced at the marae, that we're still going through this."

She said the marae and the trust board were working with the Temporary Accommodation Service, a government agency that assists people affected by natural disasters, to get cabins so the evacuees could move back to their land.

One of the conditions was that the cabins be connected to power and wastewater systems.

However, the displaced whānau had previously lived off-grid, far from power connections, so they made use of solar power and composting toilets.

Samuels said that had proved a stumbling block as they tried to return home.

"Because we don't have the infrastructure they can't really help us with cabins. We'd have to get power, access, water, septic. It's going to cost money and we don't really know how long it's going to take."

She said the marae was "a happy place" and the campervan was a lot warmer than a wet caravan, but she longed for privacy and her own space.

"We've got all the assistance and help but we are still suffering. It's still not the same anymore. We can't go home."

Sam Tamihana was also itching to go back to his own land.

"It's beautiful being at the marae and I'm so appreciative of what the marae has done for us. But I just want to go home now. I'm hoping it's going to be in the next two or three weeks."

One of the marae's dedicated volunteers, Beau Rewha - or Aunty Beau as she was better known - said looking after others was one of the key roles of any marae.

"It's manaaki. Manaaki our family, our community, our people. Young, old, our Pākehā whānau, come one, come all. And it's somewhere to share the struggles you're having, to bring you out of that isolation."

Wakefield said there was no time limit on how long the evacuees could stay.

"The marae has stated that they're open to support the whānau that are impacted as long as they're needed. We're walking with them, they're not left on their own. And we're walking to get them to where they need to be."

A number of other Ngātiwai marae along Northland's east coast, and on Aotea Great Barrier Island, are continuing to host people forced from their homes by the January storms.

Some Ōakura residents are also still in temporary accommodation, such as campground cabins, while their flood-damaged homes are repaired.

The main road linking Ngāiotōngā, Whangaruru and Ōakura to Whangārei city also remains closed due to a massive slip, triggered by a second deluge on 21 January.

The Whangārei District Council said one lane could reopen in late July.

Some of the Ngāiotōngā evacuees have been assisting in other flood zones while they wait to go home.

Aroha Samuels was among those who volunteered in the Far North settlement of Whirinaki, which was hit by a damaging flood in March.

"I was really honoured to be able to help someone with another flood, after what happened here. They suffered the same as we did, and to see their expressions when you go in and help clean up their property, it really brought back memories of when we had Taskforce Kiwi here," she said.