The water used to stop at the road - this time it came inside and out the back door
Thursday, 22 January 2026
Whitianga residents are beginning to clean up after a storm that battered the Coromandel and cut off the seaside town.
The flood of rain severely damaged Delma and John Harrison’s house on Buffalo Beach Rd, just after Delma had spent the day cleaning it ahead of a knee operation.
“It was just perfect. Everything we’d completed, replaced, repaired and it was perfect.”
Delma was going to the hospital and had planned to come back to a “nice clean house”.
Delma said they had just finished setting things in order after 2023’s Cyclone Gabrielle when Wednesday night’s storm hit their home again.
The Harrisons began sandbagging their house at 7am on Wednesday and kept the tide at bay at for 13 hours.
However, as the tide rose, the Taputapuatea (Mother Brown) stream over the road backed up, leaving the water nowhere to go.
“We bucketed for five solid hours, and then when the tide came in, we lost it. Knee-deep right through the garden.”
Cyclone Gabrielle damaged the house when seawater came over the road but it was rainwater that did the most damage.
John said a nearby water pump couldn’t handle “the volume of water” coming down nearby SH25 highway and Cook Dr.
“It was just like a river from the corner coming towards our property and down the highway,” he said.
The Harrisons bought their home 20 years ago and talked about how the water used to reach “the centre of the road” but never flooded homes.
“But since the [council] blocked off the drainage next door, there’s been no end of problems.”
Heather Harper, who was visiting the Harrisons from the UK, saw it all unfold.
“We were watching it last night just coming up and then suddenly the downstairs just became completely full,” she said.
Brigade spent the day pumping
Whitianga Volunteer Fire Brigade chief Roly Chaney said the brigade had responded to 39 calls between 8am Wednesday and 8am Thursday.
Most were related to flooding.
“I've never seen that amount of water in my 55 years being here.”
The tempo was taking a toll on firefighters, but they were working hard.
“Oh, they're getting tired but, you know, we're troopers, we'll get through. And you just think, the people you're helping it must be quite devastating for a lot of them.
“They're very, very positive considering what they've lost.”
He estimated the brigade had dealt with 12-15 flooded houses.
“There's probably a lot more in town which we don't know about.
“A lot of the community’s rallying around to help with the flooding but that's the small town community spirit.
He hoped the clean-up would be short for most, but for those with flooding, it could be weeks of effort.
“For us as a fire brigade, all we're doing is lowering water levels around town to get it out of people's basements, garages… just so they can work, begin the clean up.”
He asked people not to waste time or get in the way by going rubbernecking at houses in unstable areas.
“It is unstable ground and some of it is still moving.”
Also, people were asked to avoid driving through floodwaters or if they had to, keep their speed down to walking pace.
“Driving through floodwaters at a high rate of knots in your vehicle, it's causing a lot of waves which are not helping flooded properties.
People should also avoid swimming in the sea due to wastewater overflows.
Chaney thanked everyone who had helped out the brigade with food and drinks and other gestures.
The dedication they put in over the last 24 hours.. a lot of good work's been put in by a lot of people.“