A Givealittle page has been set up to help an Auckland family whose home was destroyed by a sewage overflow last week.
The Bigwood family had their "whole lives" in two skips on their driveway after finding overflow in their home.
Arlene Beall, a friend of the family, set up the page.
Ms Beall wrote "there was sewage everywhere" after "an underground sewage pipe located in the Bigwoods back yard, which was a collection point for all the sewage in their subdivision exploded" last Monday morning.
"Mum Michelle arrived home after dropping her kids off at school to see her driveway wet, opened her front door and was knocked out by the smell," she wrote.
"Because sewage is highly toxic bio hazardous material they lost all their photos, their clothing, and to add to their heartbreak items Michelle's mother (who is now deceased) had made for their kids prior to her passing."
To make things even worse, the Bigwood family had recently extended their mortgage to pay for renovations which were completed the day before the overflow.
"Now their entire life sits in two massive skips in their front yard. They cannot even go in their front door," Bealle wrote.
According the page, the Bigwood family’s insurance covers "nowhere near enough" for the family of five to rebuild.
Watercare told the Rodney Times they had received a call on June 11 regarding an overflow.
Watercare stakeholder media liaison advisor Maxine Clayton said contractors had discovered "some form of debris" had caused a major obstruction.
They had cleaned outside the house and said the Bigwood family should contact their insurance company about the damage inside.
Incidents of this kind happen roughly every two weeks in the Auckland region, Clayton told the Rodney Times.
She said they are usually the result of gully traps that take in wastewater before it goes through to the main sewerage line.
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