Westport has had two evacuations in a week, less than a year after devastating floods in July 2021.
It raises the question of whether the West Coast town has a future in the face of climate change.
Most of those forced out of their homes on Thursday have since returned but more heavy rain is forecast for the weekend with rivers already swollen.
Dairy farmers have been forced to dump milk because some roads are impassable to tankers.
Now residents are calling for local authorities to get on with flood protection work.
Local MP and Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor has been surveying the damage.
"We took a flyover with the mayor this morning. Thankfully a lot of the water had retreated, but we saw a lot of silt, we saw a lot of damage to infrastructure, to roading, the rail line. And clearly for a number of farmers there'll be challenges in regrassing some of the paddocks
"Some of the farmers will have had areas of their land flooded three times now in a matter of months. So that means effectively they've been out of production.
"I know some have been milking once a day. That's probably cutting 30 percent of their production and income.
"It is quite challenging depending on where they are. Many of the farmers or most of them will know that these areas do get flooded from time to time, but three times in a matter of months, it's a bit much for most of them," O'Connor said.
Milk tankers have not been able to get to Karamea, he said, where there are about 27 farms.
"So farmers have dumped milk already. They'll be hoping that the road is opened up, hopefully within 24 hours."
He said the local response was "first class" with getting people out of low-lying areas.
Government has financial relief for the region and is working with the district council, O'Connor said.
One proposal is a flood wall. O'Connor said work needs to be done to ensure it is robust and worth doing.
"Government is here to help. We have been saying that climate change is upon us. We have to have some mitigation and adaptation policies which are being worked on. That will mean different things for different communities."
He said the government is waiting for a flood protection scheme proposal from Buller District Council before it guarantees how much funding it will provide.
"I know there's some work going on between MBIE (Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment), government agencies, from the first event here in Westport. That work is proceeding. There's no final figure on that. I as locally MP would like to know that whatever we do come up with is robust and gives us security into the medium term, not just a short-term solution."
O'Connor said it is not time for Westport to be moved. "I think there are many other communities that are affected in different ways by climatic events. It is a challenging area. Greymouth was flooded on a frequent basis as well until a flood wall was put in for them.
"Yes, those questions have to be asked. But I think there's a really positive future for Westport but we do need to put in place some mitigation for weather events that will occur.
"There are many ways of mitigating the risks. It's not for me to say what they are. Wellington is a city sitting on a fault line. I don't think anyone would say you should stop building or developing there. There are ways of mitigating that. Obviously the building standards for the new multi high-rise buildings going up and Wellington will be taking account of those risks.
"Those are the kinds of things that people in Westport have to take into account if they're building into the future."
