Nelson motel owner with a moat around her property

Holding her trembling miniature dachshund Poppy, Ali Phillips stares out over the garden of her flooded motel.

Silty-brown water flows through the Maitai riverside section, gathering debris and heaping it against the fence on the downstream end. The washing line is submerged up to its waist, the small trees around the fence line bending in the current.

A thick muddy line on the ground floor of the building shows the high mark the waters reached on Wednesday, when four lots of guests were evacuated using ropes tied from balcony to balcony.

“They quite enjoyed it,” Phillips said.

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She and some helpers managed to salvage some items from the downstairs rooms, but the river came up so rapidly some of her belongings were washed away.

“We watched them float down the river.”

Phillips, who hasn’t slept much for days, didn’t quite have the words to describe the damage.

“I just can’t take it in. I don’t know what to say, you’re sort of in shock. You tell people, but you just can’t describe it. Then you send them a photo, and they say ‘my God’.”

The cleanup will be “massive”, Phillips said. But it will have to wait – water is still at knee height downstairs.

“I’ve got friends coming on Monday, it will be a huge job. I can’t wait to get stuck in and get started.”