East Coast Family Displaced By Landslide To Move Into Toitū Tai Rāwhiti Cabin

Friday, 13 February 2026, 5:39 pm
Article: Zita Campbell - Local Democracy Reporter

A Te Araroa family are looking to move into a Toitū Tai Rāwhiti cabin after a landslide destroyed their hillside home and many of their treasured belongings during the January storm.

As the "crazy" weather hit on the night of 21 January, David Torrey and son Seldom Torrey stayed up late.

When the weather turned at around 2am, Seldom felt his foot get wet in the kitchen and the pair started to attempt to "save the whare".

"That's when I knew that something was up... behind me was a big puddle. That's when we started digging the drain," Seldom Torrey said.

They had been watching the stream on the left side of the house, which they thought would be a problem, when a landslide slid on to the house's left side and blocked the drainage, David Torrey said. "Then everything on the right side started building up.

"We also think it pulled the tank and all the plumbing, so that started leaking in, and the roof was leaking in, so we had a three-way [leak]."

From 2am to 4am, they dug out the drain in an attempt to save their home, but by 4am the slip was pushing into the house, Seldom Torrey said.

It was a slow-feeding slip, "happening bit by bit".

The pair had lifted electricals and dug out the drain, which stopped the water.

"We thought that was good, so we were going to go to bed," Seldom Torrey said.

But then the house started "creaking" and "crunching", so they had to start moving.

Two hours earlier, looking out the toilet window, the dirt was ground level, but when David Torrey checked again, it was level with the window.

"And I knew... we've got to go," he said.

More of the landslide came into the house, wrecking it.

Their last job was moving a generator before taking shelter at a neighbour's property below their house, where they have been staying since.

The morning after, David and Seldom Torrey cleaned up the living room, but from the kitchen onwards, the house was "yellow", Seldom Torrey said, referring to the building's yellow sticker rating.

The council's website states this means it has been assessed as "restricted access" with "moderate damage".

Once hazards are removed, the rating can be reviewed by the council's building team.

"We fought for yellow, so we got yellow instead of red... They can see it can be repaired," David Torrey said.

They have plans to rebuild on land they own below the house.

"We've been here a long time and the pleasure outweighs the danger," David Torrey said.

Nodding to the ocean viewed from the house, he said: "That's our fridge out there. We dive every third or fourth day, as well as hunting."

"It's never happened before. We've been here 14 years and been through many storms, and nothing like that," David Torrey said.

"I think being displaced out of our house is the biggest thing because we love home... you know everything is going to be knocked down and memories gone.

"All the baby stuff that we kept - the little booties, gone... but it's just material, we can carry on."

The house was insured, but they did not have contents insurance because of the expense.

A Givealittle page, set up by a friend and neighbour, Frankie Tihore, had raised $4865 to help the family as of Thursday midday.

Speaking with Local Democracy Reporting today (Thursday), David Torrey's wife Erina Torrey said she was so grateful to their friends who set up the page, but found it hard at first.

She works in Gisborne four to five days a week and was away at the time of the event.

It was "quite overwhelming" processing what happened. She had not been up to the house or told her family at the time of the Givealittle page's launch.

"I've learned now... I've had some wise words from one of my old kaiako (teacher) from uni. She was just saying to learn to receive because we've always given so much."

This week, plans had been made for East Coast iwi collective Toitū Tai Rāwhiti to place a cabin on the land they owned below the house.

Te Araroa resident Joni Brooking is working on behalf of Toitū Tai Rāwhiti.

As a local who had relationships with the people, she had been able to get out and assist with all the whānau displaced from their homes, and been working alongside Willie Te Aho, Annette Wehi and Janelle Lamont, Brooking said.

"It's been a little bit overwhelming for both sides... the whānau that have been impacted, but also the speed at which Toitū Tai Rāwhiti are working."

Cabins arrived for five whānau last week and another four were expected to arrive this week, "weather pending," Brooking told Local Democracy Reporting on Tuesday.

The cabins would be hooked up to sewerage, water and power services within a week or so after landing. Some of the cabins were solar-powered.

- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

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