Road to Ocean Beach stays closed | Hawkes Bay News | Local News in Hawkes Bay

Ocean Beach residents would rather the settlement remain cut off than risk vehicles sliding off the steep and slip-damaged road.

The village has been largely isolated since the flooding caused a major slip on Wednesday last week.

Dawn Bennett, an Ocean Beach Civil Defence co-ordinator, said the road had been partially cleared but remained dangerously slippery following more rain this week.

She had been asking the council to keep the road closed. "I would just be horrified if people drove down and went off the edge," she said.

Resident Shayne Storey said her home had flooded a second time, after water swamped the ground floor last week. "It reflooded again to the same point," she said. "I had a river running around the house, so now I'm basically homeless."

Ms Bennett's sister Hine Baker was staying at the coastal settlement with her 18-year-old granddaughter.

"We didn't really realise just how bad it was until Dawn got a phone call from Civil Defence on Wednesday," Ms Baker said.

Residents went out at first light to try to assess the flood, but heavy rain meant they couldn't see the extent of the damage.

An army vehicle was used to evacuate 13 people on Wednesday morning, including two German tourists who had been trapped at the beach and broke into the Surf Club for shelter.

Ms Bennett's family and Ms Storey were among households who chose to stay.

They were aware Waimarama was facing a bigger crisis, and were prepared to wait until help was available.

"We just had to manage," Ms Bennett said.

She was proud of how the settlement's six Civil Defence volunteers coped during the crisis, particularly as two had badly flood-damaged homes.

But she said the crisis had shown they needed resources stored at an assembly point, such as the Surf Club.

Their greatest need now was for quad bikes to allow them to negotiate around the deep silt left by the floodwaters.

"It's like quicksand," Ms Bennett said.