Dave Dobbyn - One Night in Matatā

That's one good thing out of everything I guess; nobody was killed. At the end of the day houses and everything can be replaced, but your kids and that can't.

– Matatā local Marilyn Pearce

...in a situation like that it all turns to custard really fast. People were trapped upstairs in their houses ... The firefighters looked down the road and they saw the floodwaters coming over the railway lines, as high as the houses. Then they saw [a] house depart, and it actually floated across the road, about 300 yards down the other side. And the family were inside. They just rode it.

– Matatā Volunteer Fire Brigade Deputy Chief Gavin Dennis