Businesses and locals on the Coromandel Peninsula are feeling the effects of their fragile roading network and the lashing of severe weather.
After years without their usual bustling summer period and now winter on the way, they are desperate for some normality.
In Coromandel there was a slight reprieve in the rain after yesterday's deluge, that brought their total to four storms in just five months.
At artist collective shop The Source in Coromandel Town, it was another quiet day for Nigel Sparrow.
He said the state of the roading network left them extremely vulnerable.
Nigel Sparrow Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
"I went up to Auckland not long after the rain and when I got home ... I almost spent a couple of days, a bit shaky.
"It was quite emotional because you realise we're really, at risk in terms of access to the whole peninsula."
Business was down about 40 percent, but with the closure of State Highway 25A they were getting a few more Aucklanders passing by on route to their baches.
Sparrow told Checkpoint they had no certainty.
"How is this going to be in the future and there's no answer to that yet, except we're seeing a fairly good sign that weather is going to be a huge part of life, you know, for us in the future."
Just down the road it was a similar story at Wētā Cafe.
Chef Hannah Ngāmane said the storms destruction of their roads, was turning customers away.
"The roads are gonna close, so people just cancel their trip completely, which then loses a lot of money.
Hannah Ngāmane Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
"My mum works at the Information Centre in town and she also notices a massive dip in people who aren't coming anymore."
They still had the support of locals but were frustrated many were not making the journey to them.
Ngāmane said they were pinning their hopes on next summer to bounce back.
Further east along the peninsula in Whitianga, Derek Collier from Whitianga Sports Centre was less confident they would make it through till then.
"Our biggest problem of course is whether we can survive the next 10 months or whether the roads can survive the next 10 months because if you've driven over those roads they've got plenty of issues."
In January they had turned over half of what they usually would, thanks to wild weather and roading woes.
Derek Collier Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Many businesses were struggling to get supplies into Whitianga with the uncertainty of the roads.
"We've already got some couriers that are refusing to come to the peninsula at the moment, I've got a parcel that I ordered from one of my suppliers from last month and I'm still waiting for it to arrive."
With winter on its way and a fix for State Highway 25A not coming till early next year, businesses were stuck in limbo for the foreseeable future.
