A state of emergency was declared in Auckland after heavy rain began to fall on Friday, and four people have died in the deluge.
People had to be rescued from their flooded homes and there was widespread disruption to transport, including roads closed and flights diverted to other countries.
Departures from Auckland International Airport resumed about 1.30pm yesterday.
The Queenstown man said he counted about 1700 people — including many families with young children, and older people — who had to stay upstairs in the terminal on the international side on Friday night.
People slept on seats, floors, bars and tables — anywhere they could find a space.
He and his partner were in their plane, ready to take off for a holiday, when water started building up on the runway and airport staff had to start fixing runway lights.
After about 90 minutes it was clear the plane was going nowhere and all passengers returned to the terminal about 10.30pm on Friday.
Staff had no information to offer and no announcements were made until 11.30pm — even then, it was only to say there was no information to share.
People only had their carry-on bags with them and many had not eaten because they expected to eat on their flights.
Shops closed as they ran out of food about midnight, and there was no food provided by the airport until 4am when they handed out packets of potato chips and bottles of water.
People who pestered got blankets just before 5am, but there were not enough for everyone.
No nappies were supplied until 6am.
Other than the pilot on the plane, who had been "excellent", there had been little-to-zero communication from Air New Zealand or airport staff in charge.
The very few staff that were there knew nothing about what was happening, including staff who arrived on shift on Saturday morning.
They were apparently completely unaware people had been stuck in the terminal overnight.
He appreciated it was a serious event, but was frustrated about the complete lack of communication.
"Someone should have come in there at 4am and told us this was a disaster and reassured us that someone was in charge and a response was under way.
"I expect they would have run training scenarios for this and they have not delivered from that training."
Passengers sharing information between them, such as where to pick up bags, was faster and more reliable than what they had been told by the airport or airline.
The queue for the rebooking desk was about 40m long.
He was able to rebook a flight for 8.50am today through his travel agent, but many others were not so lucky.
The situation was "unbelievable" and he felt sorry for the staff who were left behind to deal with the upset hordes.
"This is the biggest airport in New Zealand and an international airport and there is no communication."
He said Auckland Airport chief executive Carrie Hurihanganui was left trying to escape after doing television interviews at the airport, when the general public started asking questions — forcing a communications manager to intervene.
Their Qatar Airways flight had been set to leave about 6.30pm on Friday, but after boarding about 5.30pm, they sat on the tarmac for about five hours.
At 10pm they were told they would take off shortly, but soon afterwards passengers had to get off the plane. They spent the night in the international terminal.
Emma woke to an announcement there was food and water, which sparked "carnage".
She was "bitterly disappointed" by the lack of care.
By: Staff reporters
