Police have vowed to take a “very hard line” on any criminal behaviour in Hawke’s Bay after five people were arrested overnight in relation to burglaries at commercial properties.

Eastern district commander superintendent Jeanette Park told a media briefing today: “We’re taking a very hard line in relation to any unlawful, criminal behaviour. It is just so unfair to steal from people who potentially have lost everything.

”That is truly unfair.”

Hawke's Bay Police Area Commander Jeanette Park. Photo / File

Find full coverage of the floods here.

Park said police made five arrests overnight in relation to burglaries at commercial premises in the flood-struck area.

The full extent of the destruction - from the east coast regions of Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne to Auckland’s west coast beach settlements of Muriwai and Piha - is starting to dawn.

Thousands of people are out of their homes, more than 1400 people remain “uncontactable” on a missing-person database, and new images reveal wrecked roads and bridges, properties, and infrastructure.

Residents of Te Awa Estates in Napier being evacuated during the Cyclone Gabrielle flooding event, Hawkes Bay.

There was similar theft issues following the recent Auckland flooding, and residents were even asked to remain vigilant of fraudsters posing as building compliance staff to gain entry to their properties amid the flood response.

Auckland Council manager of compliance response and investigations Kerri Fergusson said the impersonators, who have been dressed in plain clothes, have been reported around the North Shore.

“These impersonators are allegedly telling residents in the North Shore area that their houses need to be re-assessed,” she said.

Legitimate council officers would be in uniform, carry ID and have a council-branded vehicle, Fergusson said.

An Auckland woman whose home was made unlivable by the recent flooding said it felt like a “kick in the teeth” that thieves stole her valuables and tipped out her brother’s ashes.

“The thing that rocked me was that they sort of just tossed this box that my mother’s ashes were in, [it was] sort of upside down and into a corner, and my brother had died a few more years before that and we had a beautiful rimu box made for his ashes and they’ve tipped his out and taken the box.”