Ōhope Beach Tavern is holding a flood relief concert on Valentine’s Day to raise money for the residents of Te Araroa on the East Coast.

Te Araroa has been described as a “war zone” and was one of the worst hit during torrential rainfall late last month, with 27 homes on East Cape Road cut off from the rest of town.

Tavern manager Kristy Burgess said the Coast 2 Coast Te Araroa fundraiser was “born from heartbreak”.

She came up with the idea of a fundraising event after watching videos of the Te Araroa flooding devastation.

She spoke to her boss, who loved the idea of holding an event to support the residents of Te Araroa and told her to “go for it”.

“At its core, this event is about one thing – showing Te Araroa that we heard their cry for help, and we chose to act.”

When she put out a call on Facebook for artists, Ms Burgess was inundated.

“My phone didn’t stop. Messages, calls, offers of help and support poured in.

“At one point I had to put my phone down; it was overwhelming in the best possible way,” she said.

From there, the event grew and is now set to be a spectacular day of music, food, and family, with the proceeds going toward support groups and the Te Araroa marae.

The music line-up consists of artists Hori Shaw, Tidebound, Ngati Parti, Lads of the Mist, Teina Mamaori and many more.

The concert is on February 14, starting at 2pm. Tickets are $40 and are available online on the Eventfinda website.

More than 120 tickets were sold in the first 24 hours, raising around $5000.

“This is such an amazing response, and we are so grateful people want to support this.”

For those who cannot attend but want to support the Te Araroa community, Ōhope Beach Tavern suggests donating to one of the relief organisations or directly to the marae.