Flood-hit family 'lucky not to die'

By Mary Argue of RNZ

Less than 48 hours after a terrifying escape in the dead of night, reality is starting to bite for a flood-hit family in Ōwhiro Bay.

The Wellington south coast suburb was among the worst hit in a thunderstorm overnight on Monday, that saw flash-flooding in low-lying homes while people slept.

Wellington, Lower Hutt and Wairarapa remain under a state of emergency this morning. 

Wellington City Council said it was dealing with about 20 homes that were now uninhabitable.

Surveying the devastation caused by floodwaters that reached more than a metre-high inside his home, Barnaby Bocock just feels lucky the family made it out alive.

"I could just hear water, rain ... So, I stood on the toilet in the ensuite and looked out the window and at that moment, water just started flowing."
The "crazy loud, crazy fast" water rose with dizzying speed leaving the family barely enough time to toss belongings onto beds and couches.

With pet rabbits held aloft, Bocock, his partner and three teenage children forced their way through floating furniture and chest-deep water to the relative safety of Happy Valley Rd.

It was just after 4am - only 10 minutes beforehand, they'd been asleep.

"It felt very isolated at the time," Bocock said.

"And then, you see the whole area, and it's like, 'Oh no, we were lucky not to die' ... I find it odd to say that afterwards, but it's like, 'No, we were lucky not to die.'"

By yesterday afternoon, the shock of getting out with little more than the clothes on his back was wearing off and the enormity of the clean-up loomed large.

Mud 30cm deep  covers the paving around the house and inside Bocock showed RNZ the mess which was overwhelming.

Laptops, bed linen, kitchen and bathroom items were scattered everywhere, and furniture lifted and shifted by the water was in incongruous places.

Bocock said an artbook collection which was the culmination of decades of work wasn't spared and neither were photographs.

"We chucked stuff on the bed. These are my photo albums from high school and university. They're just destroyed."

The high-water mark - a line of debris about a metre off the ground - delineated what could be kept and what was likely a write-off.

And it was starting to smell.

"I just don't know where to start."

Bocock's sister Lucy Pope was helping him figure out where to begin.

But she said they still had more questions than answers, such as where to dump ruined furniture and mud.

"It's a disaster zone to be honest. My brother did paving out here ... what do we do with all this silt? What a s***show."