{"id":245127,"date":"2026-01-21T23:12:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T23:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/245127\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T23:12:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T23:12:15","slug":"warzoneeast-coast-flooding-damage-comes-to-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/245127\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Warzone’:East Coast flooding damage comes to light"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Flood<\/p>\n

\nTe Araroa on the East Coast.
\nPhoto: Supplied\n<\/p>\n

Pictures have emerged of damage in Te Araroa on the East Coast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Emergency Minister Mark Mitchell told RNZ the area was “like a warzone”, and a group of seven were rescued from a roof<\/a> in Hick’s Bay.<\/p>\n

It remained cut off by road, with State Highway 35 closed from Tolaga Bay to Opotiki. Okitu to Tolaga Bay has reopened, but people are being warned to avoid any unnecessary travel.<\/p>\n

Images from Punaruku show washed out roads, houses inundated with woody debris and brown flood water, and cars and fences buried half a metre or more in mud<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Flood<\/p>\n

\nThere are more than 300 homes on the East Coast without power.
\nPhoto: Supplied\n<\/p>\n

Police said seven people trapped on a roof in Te Araroa were rescued by FENZ and were being evacuated by helicopter for medical assessment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Maree Brownlie, who ran the Twilight Coffee Garden in Te Araroa, told RNZ it was a family nearby – including their small children – who were rescued after being up on their roof for hours.<\/p>\n

There are more than 300 homes on the East Coast, including Wairoa, without power.<\/p>\n

From the air<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, RNZ reporter Kate Green took off from Whakatane Airport on Thursday morning to survey the damage from above.<\/p>\n

River levels were high, and the water was brown, with some woody debris present, snaking through the land and occasionally overtopping the banks to flood farmland on either side.<\/p>\n

\"Flyover<\/p>\n

\nThe Waiapu river mouth on 22 January, 2026.
\nPhoto: RNZ\/Kate Green\n<\/p>\n

According to locals, in these parts, the damage wasn’t as bad as Cyclone Gabrielle.<\/p>\n

But conditions meant it had not yet been possible to land in Te Araroa by midday on Thursday.<\/p>\n

RNZ hopes to bring you news from the ground in Te Araroa on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\nThe Gisborne District Council says flooding and slips have severely impacted Onepoto, Wharekahika and Te Araroa.
\nPhoto: SUPPLIED\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\nRiver levels were high following flooding on the East Coast.
\nPhoto: RNZ\/Kate Green\n<\/p>\n

\"Flood<\/p>\n

\nTe Araroa.
\nPhoto: Supplied\n<\/p>\n

\"Papamoa<\/p>\n

\nPapamoa flooding.
\nPhoto: Supplied\/Jamie Troughton\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\nSlip on SH35.
\nPhoto: SUPPLIED\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\nSlip near Whakaangiangi Road.
\nPhoto: SUPPLIED\n<\/p>\n

\"Papamoa<\/p>\n

\nPapamoa.
\nPhoto: Supplied\/Jamie Troughton\n<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Te Araroa on the East Coast. Photo: Supplied Pictures have emerged of damage in Te Araroa on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-245127","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}