Tasman floods: Couple flees home in boat, cows ‘up to their necks’ in water

Friday, 27 June 2025

Tasman residents woke to flooded homes and properties, facing decisions whether to evacuate or stay, and desperately trying to save animals as the deluge swept across the district.

Tasman resident Leanne Boyce said they were being blocked in by flooded bridges on Sunday Creek Rd, off the Motueka Valley highway, on Friday after heavy rain pounded the district overnight.

'So we're stuck here, where we live,' said Boyce.

She said there were two bridges on either end of the road, one was 'just' out of the water on the main road, but the other on Sunday Creek Rd was underwater.

One of her neighbours had flood water 'lapping at the door,' said Boyce.

Lower Moutere resident Neil Jackson said floodwaters had surrounded his property on Friday morning after a night of torrential rain. He said the situation was the worst he’s ever witnessed in the area.

Despite a Civil Defence team arriving by boat and urging them to evacuate, Jackson and his family chose to stay in their two-storey home, on the outskirts of Motueka. “They just want to make sure everybody is safe, that’s their main reasoning,” he said.

“There’s water in the paddocks but not in the house—yet,” he said. “If I look out the window there’s water all around us. It’s definitely the most I’ve ever seen.”

Jackson, who lives on a three-hectare block, said water spilling from the lower Moutere Stream was being pushed back into paddocks by the high tide. “Ninety percent of it is because of the tide being in,” he said.

One of his neighbours had made the decision to evacuate, and a nearby stonemason business had water flowing right through the workshop.

Firefighters in an inflatable boat rescued Bronwyn Webby and her husband from their Moutere home after floodwaters surrounded their home within 30 minutes.

Webby told RNZ there was no water in sight at 6.30am but within 30 minutes the water was up to 2m deep.

In the dark they grabbed torches and could “see water all around us flowing quite fast”, then when it was light they were “surrounded as far as the eye could see”.

She phoned 111. She said her driveway was a river by the time two firefighters in an inflatable boat evacuated them at 9.20am.

'They said ‘you need to get out because we have a high tide at 11am’ and they're really worried about the ability for the water to empty out,” she told RNZ.

Webby feared much of the house would be wrecked by water because of the incoming high tide.

'My husband has a workshop, he builds cars out there, that's probably toast. We're on a water pump there which is probably toast as well. My wash house is completely flooded, brand new washing machine out there and that'll be gone,' she said.

Desiree Elley, who lives at the highest point of Batchelor Ford Rd, near Motueka, said two-thirds of her property was underwater.

“One of our hay sheds has leaned over—it looks like it’s floating away,” she said. “All our paddocks are underwater, but where we are in the shed is okay.”

Elley said some of her neighbours had been forced to evacuate and had lost everything.

A neighbour had a number of dogs, and one was attached to a kennel that started to float away. But another neighbour in a dinghy managed to save it.

“The cows were in a paddock with water up to their necks,” Elley said. “They had to cut down deer fences to get them out.”

She said her own horses were moved to high ground in time, and water levels had begun to recede during the day.

A Teapot Valley resident, who did not want to be named, said her home was swamped by knee-deep floodwaters on Friday morning.

“We woke up and stood in water,” she told the Nelson Mail. “We’ve had to get out—we’re staying with family on higher ground now … Our pet pig, I’m thinking is possibly not with us anymore.”

She said parts of the property were hit by fast-moving water. “It’s like a rushing river.”

Stacey Sixtus, who lives at Waitapu Splash in Golden Bay —a spot notorious for the Tākaka River breaking its banks and cutting off the road to Collingwood—woke at 5am to the sound of a 'raging river' rushing past her house.

Sixtus, who works for Fulton Hogan, parked her work ute across the road with flashing lights to warn drivers.

“A couple of people ignored me and drove straight through,” she said. “They got stuck, and my dad had to tow them out. Their cars are buggered. It also puts people at risk so much. But we got them out safely.”

Sarah Taylor of Toro St, Māpua, said her home narrowly avoided being flooded thanks to the swift action of the Māpua Volunteer Fire Brigade and support from the community.

“We had water nearly up to the door level this morning - it was pretty freaky opening the back door,” she said.

The fire brigade turned up and proactively helped prevent their house from being flooded. 'I'm enormously grateful.'

She had been preparing for the worst, sandbagging doors and moving belongings. “We had two big industrial pumps running, and three domestic ones, which helped get water levels down enough that it didn’t get in the house. My boys were outside with buckets pouring water onto the road. I love our wee community—they turned up with coffee and cake too.”

She added that they were some of the lucky ones. 'Some in our community are really struggling right now.”