Flood waters in most areas had receded by 8:30am, although large pools of water were visible on some farms.

A 1.7-metre-high wall of water rushed through a Helena Bay home on the night of the 29th. Another resident had a sleepout flipped over and filled with rocks, and a neighbour's caravan was washed away.

Helena Bay residents said the damage to their community was the worst they had seen.

Grilles installed two weeks beforehand blocked roadside culverts.

A driver was forced to abandon her vehicle in Helena Bay when she became stranded in flood waters.

Flood waters blocked about 30 m of Whananaki North Road to light goods vehicles and a portion of Otonga Road was inaccessible to all traffic.

A house in Russell was flooded and had to be pumped out.

Firefighters from the St. Heliers, Howick, Otara and Mt Wellington stations helped pump out several flooded homes.

Water levels rose to knee high levels at a house in Pakuranga.

Homes were flooded in Orewa, Manly and Stanmore Bay on Whangaparaoa Peninsula on the 29th.

Fire appliances were brought in from the East Coast Bays, Albany, Avondale and Parnell stations to assist busy crews from the Silverdale and Manly brigades.

Eastern Bay of Plenty was the worst hit by flooding on the 29th.

An area of Fenton Road, Rotorua, was affected by water.

A bit of surface flooding was reported in Hastings.

There were one or two surface flooding incidents in Taranaki.

Water supplies were wrecked in coastal Taranaki.

Kilometers of fencing were wrecked during the deluge.

One farmer said it was the worst flood he had had in 23 years.

The storm caused the highest river flows ever recorded in the area between Opunake and Oakura.

There was a massive flood in Katikara Stream on the night of the 30th. A huge wall of water up to 6 m high churned down the normally placid stream.

A concrete bridge connecting two parts of a property was smashed to pieces by car-sized boulders.

Minutes after the flood started, electricity was cut to surrounding properties, as the thick power cable running under the bridge was ripped out by a rush of debris.

A house on Carrington Street was flooded by heavy rain on the morning of the 30th. The house had had six serious floods in eight years, and insurance would not cover it this time. The cost included at least $1300 for carpert cleaning, a day of lost wages from work and ruined furniture.

A footpath down to Vogeltown Park was washed out.

Flood waters from the Stony River severely damaged a number of houses near Okato.

Some bridges were destroyed by flooding, including Dover Road bridge, Katikara Stream Bridge on Carrington Road and a Mangatete Stream footbridge near Okato. Two bridges on Katikara Stream were washed away like matchsticks.

A resident woke to the thunderous sound of Mangatete Stream in flood on the night of the 30th. When he went to check on his son in a cottage about 100m away, flood waters crashed through the gap between the houses within minutes, stranding them at the cottage.

Water rushed through an old dairy factory housing pigs, which were trapped and swimming in filthy water, but none were lost. The flood left the dairy factory floor covered in a thick layer of stinking silt.

The resident said it was worst flood he had seen there.

A lot of farmers could not milk because the water supply was too dirty and others lost their pumps.

Widespread damage to farms in the Rahotu area was reported.

Large culverts were destroyed and there were reports of trees and fences down.

On a farm on Ngariki Road, torrential rain on the 30th washed away kilometers of fencing, riparian planting, a well that supplied water to the house and farm, and the retaining walls to divert the stream.

A bridge that linked the main farm to 40 ha across the Okahu Stream was destroyed. Large hunks of concrete remains from the well and bridge were strewn along the stream edge. It would be three months before a new bridge could be built.

The cost of a new bridge was $40,000, and insurance would not cover it.

10 dead trout were found at the stream. Aso lost was a bank with retaining walls to divert the river - 30 concrete power poles were gone.

The flash flood also washed away another four farm bridges further up river, splitting farms in two, and damaged two more bridges on Ngariki Road. Other farmers along the mountain also had their bridges destroyed.

Stony River burst its banks from flash flooding shortly after midnight on the 30th.

Stony River had a highest-ever peak water flow of 530,000 litres a second (530 cumecs).

Stony River had record flood height of 5.5 m above normal.

Flood waters swept through 10 shops and several houses on the Kapiti Coast early on the 30th, causing thousands of dollars of damage.

There were reports of widespread surface flooding throughout the district.

Quite a few homes suffered significant damage to lower floors and basements due to surface flooding.

Firefighters were still going strong with call-outs at 5:30am 1st

A blocked drain caused surface water to flood into a Toy World store in Johnsonville, and quite a lot of stock was lost.

There was up to 4 in (10 cm) of water in Toy World.

Two Otaki shops were flooded.

A perfumery shop was flooded in Paraparaumu Beach.

There were two or three surface flooding incidents on the Kapiti Coast, around Raumati.

Six shops in Margaret Road, Raumati, were flooded when rainwaters swept down a bank and gushed under doorways. Flood waters also entered a house in Raumati.

Flood waters entered two houses in Waikanae.

Wellington City Fire Station was flooded.

One hour of rain on the afternoon of the 30th pushed floodwaters dangerously close to entering homes in low-lying parts of Cobden when stormwater drains could not cope. Flood waters in Eel Street carried rubbish, debris, oil and diesel on to properties.

Range Creek overflowed.

Water in lower Bright and Peel Streets got so close to properties that the Grey District Council moved to close the roads. The water subsided in just under an hour.

Intense surface flooding was reported around McKendry's corner at Omoto.