The recent heavy rains which hit the Coromandel had a massive impact on rivers and properties around Whangapoua, Coromandel and Port Charles.

But the Waikato Regional Council has found a silver lining in the fact other areas on the peninsula "stood up reasonably well" despite the strains of the deluge.

Flooding in Colville, caused by the heavy rains which hit the Coromandel on Sunday. Photo: File

Since the weekend regional council staff have been out and about inspecting flood protection infrastructure and stream catchments, and talking to land owners about what's happened on their properties.

Coromandel catchment management team leader Emily O'Donnell says from they've seen so far, the northeast of the Coromandel between Whangapoua to Sandy Bay was the hardest hit.

'The rainfall was so intense that some sections of the Tangiaro River have eroded four to five metres into the banks, and some massive gum trees have fallen over the river,” she explains.

'Places like Coromandel town were also affected, with our community flood scheme there in action Sunday night.

The council is still assessing that damage at Port Charles, and with Sandy Bay still cut off they are yet to determine needs there.

'At this stage, I expect that there will be several weeks of stream works for erosion protection, tree removal and reinstating stream channels.”

Local residents at Port Charles and Whangapoua who know the history of the area have told council staff it was the most intense rainfall they have ever experienced.

The situation was especially frustrating for Port Charles landowners as they had experience a freak rain event on Christmas Eve. Furtermore, over the past decade many had put in a lot of effort to protect their river banks.

A lot of that effort has now been wiped out, says Emily.

'Their winter pasture was also damaged as well as farm infrastructure, so it's definitely a blow, but these guys are very resilient.

'Even as locals were trying to get their heads around damage they were digging in to help out their neighbours.”

But on a brighter note – the stream and catchment works at Port Jackson were put to the test and came up trumps on Sunday.

Port Jackson was badly hit in a big storm in June 2014 and since then landowners have spent hundreds of hours reinstating pasture and key farm infrastructure, explains Emily.

'This stream and catchment work was put to the test on Sunday, and we were thrilled to see that all the waterway channels held up well. It's a real credit to those landowners.

'We were also very pleased that the flood mitigation scheme at Graham's Creek in Tairua successfully diverted water down the new spillway, ensuring no homes in that area flooded. It was a huge relief given the intensity of the event and the fact that this scheme is still under construction.”

Council will continue carrying out inspections and developing plans for remediation with landowners over the coming days.

Their priority is to ensure good stream flow in case of another rainfall event and then prioritising works from there. Key local contractors are being mobilised and are ready for action.

'We'll also be doing more work to locate damaged or blocked stream channels and to understand the damage landowners are dealing with. In particular, we're keen to get over to Sandy Bay as soon as we can get access to check out what's happened there.

'Once we've done the initial response to this event we'll consider whether there's anything else we need to do to build up the area's longer-term resilience to flooding.”

Integrated catchment management committee chair Stu Husband says staff have done a great job responding to this event and worked some long hours over the weekend.

'They'll continue to progress our response over the next few weeks to help the community bounce back,” he says.

For assistance and advice on waterways or stream blockages, hillside erosion or any other flood-related damage call the Waikato Regional Council on 0800 800 401.