They got out just in time, as slips came down the hill behind them as they ran.

The town's stores have been cleared out of milk, bread and toilet paper.

Despairing locals are wondering how long it will take to repair the damage.

The storm has split in two and continues to ravage Canterbury and the lower South Island.

Some Tasman residents remain cut off as the country cleans up after ex-cyclone Gita.

Tasman residents brace for cyclone while repairing damage from the last one.

A body has been found in the Motueka estuary.

A person was pulled from a burning home in Motueka this morning.

Thames-Coromandel produces the most recycling over the festive period.

The free-spirited woman who died at Maruia Falls was a "beautiful soul", friends say.

The Motukea woman who drowned at Maruia Falls on Saturday has been named.

Woman drowns at Maruia Falls in upper South Island.

Fire crews were assisting the truck driver who became trapped when the vehicle rolled.

Campervan crashes down bank but driver escapes unharmed.

Environment Minister Nick Smith rejects conflict of interest claims over funds for a dam.

A walking tour of Abel Tasman National Park is best done on a full stomach.

Footage of Golden Bay, Totaranui. On the Abel Tasman Coast Track, one of New Zealand's Great Walks, you can see an amazing array of wildlife including wekas, fantails and seal pups!

Hunters warned to stop shooting animals near residential properties.

DoC staff were tonight monitoring a pod of about 200 pilot whales milling around in the sea off Golden Bay.

Volunteers are using two boats to guide the 17 pilot whales that were stranded at Golden Bay this morning to the rest of the their pod and try to coax them out to deeper waters.

Hundreds of volunteers last night kept a vigil over 120 whales restranded on Farewell Spit near Golden Bay.

Twenty pilot whales have beached themselves again and will be euthanised, DoC said, as volunteers are warned to be careful around decomposing whales.

All 100 of the surviving beached whales at Farewell Spit have been successfully refloated as volunteers scrambled to stop another pod swimming into shore.

Emotional scenes as whale rescue volunteers sang to and even named many of the pilot whales stranded - and those refloated - on Farewell Spit.

Police say they have concerns for an elderly Nelson man who was due to arrive in Westport today, but has not been seen. Leslie Martin

Did recent seismic surveys in the area cause whales to beach themselves at Farewell Spit?

A person has been hurt after the car they were in went off the Coastal Highway and into a swamp at Mapua, west of Nelson.

Police have today pulled a body from the Takaka River - that of missing man James Rano Dick, known locally as Hemi.

Plans for a ferry between Whanganui and Port Motueka have been revisited. And pending a feasibility study by the council, could have the Mayor's support. Made with funding from NZ On Air.

Plans for a ferry between Whanganui and Port Motueka have been revisited. And pending a feasibility study by the council, could have the Mayor’s support. Made with funding from NZ On Air.