The family of 28-year-old Talia Smith are mourning the loss of a devoted sister and mother who was swept to her death in a flooded river in the Bay of Islands, Radio New Zealand reports.
She was last seen on Saturday morning struggling to get back to a house from her car which was partly submerged by water from the swollen Waitangi River. She had been attending a party at a rural property west of Waitangi.
A search went on from first light on Saturday, but the Upper Hutt woman was not found until Sunday when river levels downstream from the Haruru Falls had dropped.
Smith's brother, Anton Smith-Waaka, said he and his brother Matthew were very close to their older sister, particularly after the death of their mother.
“She assumed the role of our mother, because our mother's just passed away one and a half years ago, and she just assumed the role of mother to us - to myself and my brother - when we really needed her,” he told Radio New Zealand's Morning Report programme.
People in Northland are dealing with the aftermath after a weekend of wild weather caused floods, power cuts and road closures.
Civil Defence Minister Nikki Kaye is to talk to Cabinet about what help the Government might be able to give Northland in the aftermath of flooding from a severe storm.