A year ago flash floods left many Manawatū homes waterlogged and covered in debris.
The clean-up continues, as the district council plans upgrades to stormwater systems.
For one homeowner heavy rain prompts fears of floodwaters returning, causing her to invest in floodgates to keep any future deluge at bay.
Alicia Field has spent nearly $6000 on the gates to protect her Feilding house after it was flooded a year ago - the first of two inside six months.
"That took about three months to repair the house [from the first flood]. It never got completely finished. I didn't actually get my laundry finished," she said.
"I had a washing machine sitting in the middle of my laundry for nearly six months, no wallpaper on the walls, things like that.
"Two days shy of six months later we were flooded again. This time it was freezing cold. It was dark. It was later at night."
Field and her son had to evacuate as, again, water poured down the slopes behind their home and tore through its ground floor.
"This time we got injured quite severely. I got hematomas and he had broken toes, and ripped open his foot and had to have tetanus shots.
"It was extremely traumatic."
Field is unhappy the council hasn't yet done work to divert floodwater from the hill behind her, and would like to see tightened rules aimed at preventing runoff from new developments.
About 25 minutes out of town, the remote Reu Reu Road, near the Rangitīkei River, was cut off last year when debris and forestry slash piled up on the one bridge in and out on December 15 and 16.
A sudden downpour of about 70mm in 45 minutes created a torrent of water that crashed through Julie Rush's small farm, turning a small stream into a river.
She managed to get her animals to safety, but felt helpless as the water rose, leaving behind a dumping of silt and mud.
Rush said scars remained - mentally and physically.
"It's sort of like a nightmare memory. Every time it rains I brick it. I get out there and I say, Please God, can you just talk to mother nature and get her to behave herself."
The past year's been full of hard work for her and partner John Heron.
With the help of neighbours, the pair have restored their garden, planted trees and cleared piles of slash and wood from their fields, as well as the mud and silt.
"We went in with the diggers and scraped everything out into piles," Heron said.
"We had one bloke with a little truck and I used a tip trailer on the tractor and we just kept loading it up, going over the other side of the stream.
"There was a big hole in the paddock and now that's all filled in."
Increasing floods have prompted the district council to come up with an $18 million plan to upgrade Feilding's stormwater system.
General manager for infrastructure Hamish Waugh said money had been diverted from elsewhere in the council to make short-term improvements, too.
This included work on stormwater drains and creating water retention areas on private land to stop water gushing out to the street or other properties.
"That basically gives us $1 million of new capital money between this financial year and next financial year.
"At this stage the plan is to incorporate the stormwater major project or projects into the long-term plan that would start 1 July 2024, and be over a two- or three-year period."
From there a new Three Waters entity might take over stormwater, but the council wanted it on the books, Waugh said.
For residents such as Field, this can't come soon enough.
"It's been hell. It's been an absolutely hellish year - the last six months in particular," she said.
"That second flood nearly undid me and I think if it happened again it would be catastrophic for me."
She has new carpet in her garage and most repairs are done.
Now, Field's just hoping she doesn't need her newly installed floodgates.
