‘A river flowing through the house’: Flood-hit Wellington residents ponder massive cleanup

Tuesday, 21 April 2026

A phone call just after 4am on Monday woke Danielle Townsend suddenly.

It was her son, who lives out the back of the house in Wellington’s Island Bay.

“He said his sleepout was flooding.”

Townsend thought the gutters were blocked, but soon realised the street outside had flooded.

Unable to open the door, her son climbed out of the sleepout’s window and the family of four headed upstairs, splashing through water that had risen through the floorboards to become “a river flowing through the house”.

On Tuesday morning, Townsend was supervising the beginning of a long cleanup operation.

Most of their belongings will end up in the skip outside, and the family has lost at least four cars. But they managed to salvage a few items, including electronics, Townsend’s son’s school uniform and her daughter’s dance certificates, which were drying on the kitchen bench.

Fran De Gregorio, who owns The White Room Gallery on The Parade in Island Bay, spent hours on Monday trying to dry out her shop.

While it looks orderly on Tuesday, the reality is that black water has seeped into the floor, and damaged some stock.

De Gregorio, who lives 100m from the shop, woke early on Monday morning and looked out the window to see a road cone whip past, driven by a torrent of water.

She and her husband waded through “rapids” to the shop, where water was seeping beneath the door.

They have had a stream of visitors and offers of help over the last 24 hours.

De Gregorio’s grateful for the help and the community spirit. But she has questions about how the community will address what is now a known flood risk.

“It highlights the need for our money to be spent on critical infrastructure, not vanity projects.”

Along Royal St, people are busy pulling up sodden carpet and throwing damaged household goods into skips. Silt and debris cover the footpaths and road.

A little before noon on Tuesday, Mike Paling watched as a tow truck removed his flooded car. Paling lives in a house overlooking the street and aside from the car, his place was unscathed, but his neighbours bore the brunt of the water that flowed down Duppa and Royal streets.

“I’ve seen a lot of hysterical people, traumatised people. It’s been a traumatic day.”

Paling, who has lived in his home for over 30 years, had never seen flooding like this before, he said.

Sarah Hewitt on Royal St was already awake on Monday morning when the rain began falling heavily.

She heard voices outside and opened the door to find water lapping at the doorstep.

Soon, it oozed through the floorboards.

The family of three began moving items off the floor and called the emergency services.

Outside, dual torrents ran along each side of her house, shifting huge pavers and filling her garden with at least a metre of water.

The family will stay in a motel tonight and Hewitt’s thoughts have turned to what’s next: “how long will it take to fix, where will we stay?”