The Tutaekuri River (Māori: Tūtaekurī) flows eastward for 99.9 kilometres through the Hawke's Bay Region of the eastern North Island of New Zealand into the Pacific Ocean.

It starts in the Kaweka Range roughly 50 kilometres north-east of Taihape, and reaches the sea just to the south of Napier, where the Ngaruroro and Clive Rivers join it.

[2] According to Ngāti Te Whatuiāpiti tradition, the river received the name Tūtaekurī, which means "dog-excrement", in commemoration of a feast in the late seventeenth century, when Kaitahi was travelling from Pōrangahau to Oeroa with people from Ngāti Kahungunu, and his cousin Te Hikawera found the travellers en route eating kōuka (shoots of the tī kōuka or cabbage tree).

Due to buildup of debris at key crossing points such as the Redclyffe and Brookfields bridges, the riverbanks failed, flooding large areas of Puketapu, Taradale, Meeanee and Awatoto.

Four bridges crossing the Tutaekuri collapsed, while the major Redclyffe electrical substation beside the river was heavily damaged, leaving 32,000 properties in Napier without power.