It wasn’t the sea that ended up causing flooding at the Clifton Beach free camping site.

Swells of up to seven metres were forecast to pummel the coastline, but it was water off the surrounding hillsides that caused the major damage instead.

The entrance to the Cape Kidnappers golf course remained a mess on Wednesday, as a result of rain and river water washing down the valley. Camp site resident Doug Wardle had been expecting the greatest danger to come from the sea, but woke to find it was roaring in from behind him.”I was up till half past two in the morning to see if the sea would become too big, but that was all right,’’ Wardle said.

”I didn’t want to go to sleep but, of course, I laid down on the bed and woke up at 5am and I could see water just pouring through here and it was bloody dirty water.

”You could see it running through the paddocks.’’

Wardle had a generator running on Wednesday, which he was moving through the camp to ensure fellow residents were able to keep perishables chilled or frozen. Down the road at the Clifton Motor Camp, it was largely business as normal. A spokesperson said the sea swells didn’t get much above three metres and barely breached the sea wall at all.

Power went out at 8am on Tuesday but the few people who’d remained in the camp had generators or solar power as alternative sources.”It was noisy, but not as bad as we’d told it would be,’’ the woman, who preferred not to be identified, said of the sea.

The Te Awanga lagoon did flood, causing some damage to residents in Pipi Street and Leyland Road but, by Wednesday morning, the clean up was mostly over.