“I think it was probably 11-12 o’clock the night before,” said Lesley Rutherford.
“The skies just opened up and so much water came down it had nowhere to go. I’ve never seen so much water.”
The manager of Waipuna Hospice Pāpāmoa charity shop on Domain Rd arrived the next morning, on June 11, to find about 15cm of water throughout the store.
“We do tend get a little bit flooded in our carpark [when heavy rain occurs] but this time it was just horrendous,” said Rutherford.
Thankfully the hospice’s Pāpāmoa depot next door – which supplies stock to all five Waipuna Hospice shops in the district – was not affected, said Rutherford.
Despite being shut only two days for clean-up, the Pāpāmoa store is still recovering a month on. This is after the team had to throw out a large amount of water-logged stock.
All furniture inside the Waipuna Hospice Pāpāmoa charity shop had to be dumped after the flooding on June 11. Photo / Supplied
“Basically, all the furniture, beds etc – anything was that was on the floor – got contaminated,” said Rutherford.
This included long pieces of clothing on hangers and display baskets full of products plus stock on the floor in the sorting room.
“Anything the water touched had to be thrown out,” said Rutherford.
“We had to throw a lot of stuff out that people had donated, which has made us very short [of donations].”
Rutherford said the store would appreciate any sellable, good condition furniture, homewares and fashion to be dropped off.
“Anything that’s in really good condition, and people are not sure what to do with it, they can bring it down to us.
“If they need somebody to pick it up, we do have that service for free. Call our donation hotline 07 281 1755 to book your collection.”
The shop floor filled with unwanted water in June 11. Photo / Supplied
Rutherford thanked her team and volunteers “who did a fantastic job” with the clean-up and preparing the store to open two days later.
Waipuna Hospice retail general manager Jace Dowman said his team is still working to recover from the event.
“We’ve got to do the assessments, we dumped a lot of stock and were closed for two days.”
The shop had also lost electrical appliances it used to operate, said Dowman.
“Our fridge, dishwasher, they no longer work so we’ve had to replace them. It’s a shame.”
Waipuna is working with insurance assessors to determine the value of donated stock, plus shop-owned appliances and fittings, and the loss of two days’ trading.
“We’re still working that out with the insurance company, but it’s going be significant.”
Dowman said Tauranga City Council was looking into the cause of the flooding.
“The volume of water simply overwhelmed the existing runoff system,” he said, noting that the depot remained unaffected because it sat about 600mm higher than the store.
“That whole site is below sea level, so when there’s a significant amount of rain and the water table shifts, the water level can rise quickly,” Dowman said.
Beds stack sideways on the shop floor were damaged by water and had to be dumped. Photo / Supplied
He added the store was built before building regulation changes, which introduced requirements for new structures to be elevated above sea level.
“The depot, built more recently, meets those newer standards.”
Tauranga City Council’s manager of drainage services Radleigh Cairns said some parts of Pāpāmoa received 80-100mm of rain, mostly overnight on June 10-11.
“The area where the Waipuna Hospice Pāpāmoa shop is situated on Domain Rd is low lying and has the potential to flood in significant rain events.
“As the area is zoned rural residential, stormwater in the area relies on a combination of soakage and a series of drains on both roading land and private property.”
The flooding in the carpark outside Waipuna Hospice Pāpāmoa charity shop on June 11. Photo / Supplied
Cairns said council is working with landowners on available options for improving the stormwater flow in the area, including ensuring accessible drains are clear.
“The roadside drains on the southern end along Domain Rd have already been cleared.”