A Christchurch woman who was staying with her parents in Havelock for Christmas thought she heard thunder as hundreds of logs from a forestry site barrelled toward her parents' home during last week's heavy rain.
As the rain and "thunder" continued, she assumed the flashes of light she saw were lightning, not sparks from arcing power lines.
Dairy farmer Robbie Wratt, who lives 5 kilometres south of Havelock, said it was a stroke of luck that the logs missed the family home and milking shed next door.
The house was not damaged, but some of the logs went down the sides of the property as well as into the effluent pond.
Mr Wratt's son, Matt, said his sister, who was visiting with her husband and young daughter, was sleeping in the front room of the house and about 6.30am on Tuesday thought she heard thunder "but it didn't stop".
She also saw a flash outside which she thought was lightning, but was the powerline coming down, he said.
"There was nothing to be done. We just had to watch it."
At one point the family decided to leave the house for their safety, he said.
Matt and his father stayed behind to move the stock, while the other family members went to stay with friends, he said.
Matt, a software engineer who was also visiting from Christchurch, was spending the rest of his holiday helping clear fences surrounding paddocks on the farm.
He said earlier on Monday night his car was parked where some of the logs eventually ended up which would have written it off, but he had moved it after running an errand.
Mr Wratt, a third-generation farmer in the area, said it would take a few days to clean up one of his flooded paddocks.
Some of the pasture was covered in mud and silt and would probably need to be regrassed, he said.
"I'm not too thrilled ... we could have done without it," he said.
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