A Hawke's Bay lumber yard and sawmill that employs hundreds of locals has been completely swamped, with the last workers onsite carried to safety on a large loader.
Pan Pac on State Highway 2 at Whirirnaki employs more than 400 people, with hundreds more contractors.
Right now though workers are being told to stay safe and stay away, with the company saying it will cover employees wages.
But manging director Tony Clifford says getting the message out has been tough and they cannot even check the damage yet.
