Outlets for the community to support two flood-affected Tauranga families have been set up in the aftermath of last weekend's storm.

Givealittle pages are now set up for Tauriko resident Linda Candy, whose 'lost everything” while being away in Starship; while another page is running for the Maungatapu family after their house was crushed so badly it was shunted into the middle of their street.

Tough run

According to her cousin Katrina Daniela, Tauriko resident Linda Candy is an amazing
mum-of-four children who has had a 'very tough run” the past month.

Linda and her son Seth are currently in Starship hospital as he prepares to undergo a kidney transplant. Katrina says he is 'seriously unwell” and Linda is donating her kidney for his surgery.

The father of two of Linda's children has also been seriously unwell with an aneurysm and stroke. Linda's mother also recently passed away, and the family has only 'just had her funeral”.

Linda's home in Tauriko flooded last weekend. 'Unfortunately, they did not have insurance as things have been tight with additional costs of travel to hospital and not being able to work for the duration of the treatment and surgery,” says Katrina. The Givealittle page for Linda is to 'help replace her car, household and clothing, as well as to help ease the financial burden of not being able to work while Seth and Linda undergo the kidney transplant”. 'It's been a very stressful period and losing everything they own on top of this has been a huge blow to the family.”

Renovated home ruined

The Maungatapu family whose house was crushed, have lost their home, cars and possessions.

They'd spent the past two years renovating it, completing the work the day before the landslide. Both family vehicles were destroyed – one was crushed and one was launched through the wall of the house by the force of the slip.

Home owners Luke Hanan and partner Teresa Hodgson and their youngest child Bailee, 9, were asleep in their rooms when the landslide happened.

The couple's four older children – Mason, Morgan, Blake and Natalie – were still awake 'doing their thing” around the house, gaming, playing on their phones and watching movies.

Luckily, the whole family survived the ordeal.

Teresa's sister, Larissa Hodgson, has set up a Givealittle page to support the family with the trauma of the event and in the weeks that follow as they start to rebuild their lives. The donation pages can be found through putting ‘Larissa Hodgson' and ‘Linda Candy' into the search bar on Givealittle.co.nz -Additional reporting by Annemarie Quill/Stuff.