Dianne Reece is about to move back onto her Papatoetoe property six weeks after a tornado devasted her home of 43 years.
She will be living in a cabin that is planned to be put in the front yard - her son, Evan Reece, has spent the last month and half living in a power-less sleep out since the disaster.
This is one of 51 properties badly damaged by the tornado, another 18 homes are uninhabitable.
"I was in my bedroom, sitting on my bed just about to get up - it sounded like great big golf ball hail stones, and I thought they were going to come through my roof," Dianne told 1 NEWS.
The 68-year-old threw herself onto the floor as her bedroom window blew inwards, "flying through the room".
"When it all stopped, I looked up and right in front of me there were two pieces of glass right in front of my face like this."
Evan and Dianne are trying to clear out the house so the insurance company can send in builders. The roof, which the tornado had torn through, has already been fixed, but not before the ceiling, walls, and carpet were soaked.
Evan took 1 NEWS on a tour of the house, stopping underneath a large hole in the lounge ceiling.
"I turned around up here and a whole piece just collapsed to the floor," he said.
Figures released to 1 NEWS from the ministry of Business Innovation and Employment reveal six households are still living in temporary accommodation.
415 requests for assistance to the Ministry of Social Development has resulted in $89,572.46 in Civil Defence payments being sent out.
"These payments were primarily for food, clothing, and bedding where people had either lost household goods or were unable to access these goods in the early days of the tornado response," said MSD's South Auckland Regional Commissioner, Lynda Smardon.
Meanwhile $300,000 has been allocated to 90 residents from a Mayoral Relief Fund set up after the disaster.
Down the road, Critical. co-founder Rui Peng is trying to operate his start-up business from a factory with only half a roof. The company aims to recycle plastics into reusable products. They were about to launch their business when the tornado struck, ripping up the factory roof and drenching their expensive machinery.
As a double blow, they were still sorting out insurance, and have had to set up a Givealittle page to help with repair costs.
Now, the roof is covered in scaffolding and plastic wrap, but it does not keep out all the rain.
"It's not perfect we have puddles on the floor we have leakages even between the machines," Peng told 1 NEWS.
While Peng said everyone was working as hard as possible to fix the roof, which requires building an entire new structure, Covid shipping delays have resulted in longer wait times for much-needed building materials.
"A few weeks ago, there was an eight-week lag on when the timber will arrive in New Zealand and we're not getting any confirmation on what that is going to be done and when the roof is going to be done."
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