Floodwaters have torn through Little River Campground as the Banks Peninsula township reels from what residents describe as the worst flooding in decades.

Little River Campground owner Marcus Puentener spoke to chrislynchmedia.com and said the scale of the event only became clear when it was already too late.

“Pretty much when it was too late unfortunately,” Puentener said when asked when he realised how serious the flooding would become.

“We did have heavy rain warnings, but we get those a little bit and it kind of again took us by surprise unfortunately. We should know better, but there’s most probably twice as much rain as what they predicted.”

He said the Okuti River had surged beyond anything he had previously seen.

“The Okuti River, which is one of the little rivers in Little River, definitely not little anymore,” he said. “It burst its banks, came over the bridges, smashed a lot of stuff up, lifted the road.”

“There’s debris all down the road. There’s houses that have been flooded. But everyone is safe and sound, which is the main thing.”

For Puentener, the loss of infrastructure at the campground has been particularly difficult.

“The disheartening thing is most probably the loss of a couple of bridges,” he said.

“One that we weren’t too surprised about, which is meant to be removed in such events, but we didn’t get the time or I underestimated the amount of water.”

He said another bridge, about 3 metres above normal water level, had also been severely damaged.

“The other one, which is maybe 3 metres above the water level, is pretty much gone as well. It’s got a whole lot of debris stacked up against it. So that’s a little bit disheartening and a worry, and trying to fix all that stuff is going to be a mission.”

Driveways across the property have also been torn apart.

“All of our driveways were chip sealed and now they’ve all been lifted and there’s debris everywhere. About a ton of shingle is now in my neighbour’s place,” he said.

Despite the destruction, Puentener praised the community response.

“We have village wide radio comms for such events, so we’ve all been checking in on each other and everyone’s pretty much safe,” he said.

“The fire brigade have been amazing. They’ve been checking on the vulnerable people. We’re pretty lucky. We’ve only had a bit of water really and slips down our driveway and the road’s been washed out a bit, but nothing too dramatic.”

He said parts of the township itself had been hit hard.

“All of the little people in Little River itself, the galleries will be flooded, the cafes flooded, the petrol station will be flooded. Quite a few mates’ places down there are going to need a lot of work.”

Having lived in the area for 16 years, Puentener said the event was unprecedented in his time there.

“This is by far the worst that we’ve seen, and we’ve seen a lot of rain,” he said.

“I’ve been speaking to neighbours and people in Little River who have been here for over 30 years and they’re saying it’s the worst that they’ve had.”

He also raised concerns about debris and forestry slash left in waterways.

“The river has diverted through slash not being cleared from previous floods. That’s then directed the water down the main road and through everyone’s places,” he said.

“We are always going on to the council that prevention is better than an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. Unfortunately their resources are stretched, and if the drains aren’t cleared and the slash from forestry and floods are left then it’s only going to cause more of a problem.”

He said flash flooding remains a risk if debris continues to build up.

“That’s one of my main worries. With none of the debris being cleared from the rivers, if they have a whole pile of logs on their bit of the stretch of the river then they get washed down,” he said.

“Everyone is safe and sound, which is the main thing,” Puentener said.