A Papamoa family is glad to be back on New Zealand soil after being stranded in Fiji amongst severe flooding that has killed four people.

Mark Frear and his two children McKenzie, 11, and Austin, 8, who live in Papamoa arrived back in New Zealand this morning after they were evacuated from Fiji while on holiday at Plantation Island.

Severe flooding in Fiji has damaged many homes and businesses on the mainland and outer islands.

Severe weather has pounded Fiji causing major flooding, killing four people and leaving thousands waiting to be evacuated.

'It was tough – as soon as it flooded the island was shut off and we were stranded for a couple of days,” says Mark.

'We finally got a boat off the island on Saturday and it was a horrendous trip.

'They overloaded the boat – it would usually carry about 70 people and I counted 98 – and about 70 per cent of those people were vomiting as the swells were huge.

'At some points the front of the boat was going under the waves.”

Mark and his children were part of a group of 14 family members who arrived in Fiji on Friday, March 23 for a week long holiday in celebration of Mark's mother's 60th birthday.

'We had a fantastic time up until the flooding, it was just a few war stories at the end.”

He says heavy rain began to fall overnight on Thursday, and by Friday morning the resort on Plantation Island was flooded.

'The water was thigh deep as we waded from our rooms to the restaurant. At that stage all the facilities were still operating but then they shut down and moved all the food and bar facilities to higher ground.”

Mark says all boat services to the mainland were cancelled, as sea swells reached up to 5 metres.

'We couldn't get off the island, we were actually meant to fly on Saturday morning but that was delayed when the boat couldn't reach us.”

On Saturday a large catamaran was chartered to transport people from Plantation Island back to Denarau, where passengers were transferred onto two buses to be taken to the airport.

'We had to stack the cases in the bus as the bottom of the bus was under water.”

As Mark travelled through Nadi he says flood marks could be seen reaching the roofs of houses.

'There were certainly people that were worse off than us.

'We were actually lucky our travel agent was great and arranged for us to get the fourth flight out. There were some horror stories of people who had been waiting at the airport for days.”

After a long trip back to Auckland International Airport where they arrived at 1am today, Mark says the children are looking forward to getting home to Papamoa.

'I think Austin was a bit upset we didn't get stranded for a few more days and he wouldn't of had to go to school until after Easter but really we were lucky to get out.”

Air New Zealand this morning cancelled some flights from Auckland to Fiji with flight NZ754 to Nadi scheduled to depart Auckland at 3.45pm cancelled.

The Metservice is reporting a heavy rain watch for the Bay of Plenty as a tropical low approaches the North Island in the next 48 hours bringing strong winds and heavy rain.

The Metservice is warning rain may be enough to cause slips and surface flooding in some areas, as well as hazardous driving conditions.

Further rain is likely on Wednesday and Thursday.