Summer is normally boom time in Hawke's Bay, but instead of tills ringing, many businesses are in clean-up mode after Cyclone Gabrielle.
And those that can open are counting the costs of another cancelled Art Deco Festival weekend.
North of Napier, Esk Valley business owner Justine Wilson struggled to comprehend the destruction wrought by last week's cyclone.
"There's people worse off, so you've got to look after them first," Wilson said, when asked what assistance her business required.
Kiwiesque Luxury Lodge - which she and husband Bayden operated - was intact, but water lapped close to its doors and silt covered their small vineyard.
The lodge had a wedding party leave on Monday last week. Without power and with only limited access to the valley, it might not welcome more guests for a while.
Justine Wilson says she's cancelled bookings for the next two months. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham
"There's no way that anybody can get in, so I've just cancelled the next two months and we'll go from there," Wilson said.
"It's just too early to tell. It's only been a week, so we're all in survival mode and waiting to see what will happen."
For a couple of nights, the lodge provided a sanctuary for neighbours who were rescued by boat as floodwaters inundated the valley.
The waters had since receded to reveal cars, caravans, and even a house picked up and thrown downstream.
"Obviously, all our vineyard has gone, but we're nothing compared to the rest of the valley," Wilson said.
In Napier, businesses are reopening as power returns to the city. But like the Napier Antique and Jewellery Centre, they had missed out on cashing in on a big annual weekend returning after a Covid-19 hiatus.
"We had Art Deco weekend and it's just gone," said centre co-owner Raewyn Dailey.
"We go overseas to source all our stock once a year and this is the time that we would have sold it all so, financially, we are going to be well down. But, we're so much better off than a lot of people."
Raewyn Dailey is counting the cost of another missed Art Deco weekend Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham
The Art Deco Festival - which was be held last weekend - would normally see the business through winter, Dailey said.
"You cannot move in this shop. People are buying one thing after another. It's the best business ever at that time."
This year, the shop opened on Saturday after power returned on Friday night, and nobody was around. Instead of tens of thousands of dollars, turnover was about $100.
Dailey was hoping for wage support or tax relief from the government package announced on Monday.
Down Tennyson Street, Bloom Bouquets owner Rachel Harvey was ruing the loss of Valentine's Day business thanks to Cyclone Gabrielle.
"It struck on one of our busiest days of the year, so we've lost quite a lot of stock," Harvey said.
"We also source as locally as we can, so we're still in the process of finding out what we can get from local growers [and] how they're going, how they're faring."
The florist remained closed while Harvey tried to source fresh flowers. She was working at her laptop in a near empty shop - one that was normally filled with bright colours and strong scent.
"I'm just trying to get some communications to my customers to let people know what's going on," Harvey said.
"We still have no internet or power at our home. Fortunately, power's back on at the shop, so I'm here trying to log on, trying to update our website and get our communications to customers so they know that we haven't forgotten them."
Rachel Harvey says she's trying to reopen her florist as soon as possible. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham
Water had ruined Jordan Barraclough's Esk Valley home, but on Monday morning, he was cleaning up at his ice-cream shop and eatery, Berry Tasty, at Bay View, north of Napier.
"We've had to completely close, as when Cyclone Gabrielle hit we lost power on the Tuesday morning. We just had to close and we haven't been able to reopen," Barraclough said.
"We've got seven staff who, obviously, rely on the job as well, so it's more of a waiting game for them. When the power comes on, we can get everyone back and working again."
While clearing the contents of his walk-in chiller, he told RNZ keeping busy helped keep his mind off what had happened.
"Everything at the moment is just so busy. I don't really have time to think. That time will come later...
"The worst thing you can do is sit down. When you sit down and relax, then you start thinking about all the stuff that's actually happened.
"The time will come for all of that later, once we've got everything going up again."
