Source: Radio New Zealand
A Tairua couple woke to screaming after a landslide narrowly missed their house in the dark of the night.
The Coromandel Peninsula was just one of 5 regions put into a State of emergency after a severe red rain warning hammered the East Coast of the North Island on Wednesday.
Tairua was one of the worst hit in the Coromandel, all roads in and out completely cut off, without power and limited access to water.
John Drummond had lived there, on Mount Paku in Motuhoa Rd, for decades, it’s not the first slip he’d seen but it was the biggest.
John Drummond was woken by his wife after she heard screams from their neighbours in the night. RNZ/Calvin Samuel
“At about midnight, my wife woke me up because she could hear some people screaming… so we got out of bed and went over to help.
He found his elderly neighbours in dire need of assistance.
One of the occupants had made it onto the deck when the landslide took it out, sending them down about two metres into the mud.
The Drummonds helped them out down their driveway to the waiting Fire and Emergency Volunteers and an ambulance.
A car is visible in the driveway of a damaged house. RNZ/Calvin Samuel
“They were pretty shaken up, covered in mud and wet and traumatised.”
Drummond said the couple were in hospital after being helicoptered out in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The landslide had come down both sides of the property, pushing up against the back of the house. Through the window you can see the back wall has been pushed about two metres inside the house, sending the kitchen cabinetry and fridge with it. The exterior wall of the house was bowing under the pressure.
An upturned car and water tank are amongst the debris from the large slip on Motuhoa Rd. RNZ/Calvin Samuel
“It was really dark. I couldn’t really see much, but there was water flowing everywhere, down the roads, off the banks, down into houses.”
A water pipe had also burst adding to the sheer volume of water running down the side of the mountain.
The bulk of the landslide stopped on Motuhoa Rd, the destroyed water tank and an upturned car were pulled down in the force and planted on top of the mountain of debris.
Fire and Emergency local volunteers said about six houses in Tairua were being assessed and were likely to be red stickered.
A slip on Ocean Beach Rd. RNZ/Calvin Samuel
Tairua Station manager Stacey Cammock was called to the emergency, but was unable to get the vehicle close enough, forcing him to wade his way into the sludge.
He said the slip was still moving, with the potential to take out another house forcing him to evacuate neighbouring properties.
Tony Jacobs was one of them.
“We were woken at 1am, fast asleep by a guy from the fire brigade with a torch shining down our hall… I thought, what the hell does he want?
Tony Jacobs woke to the fire brigade telling him he needed to evacuate after a large slip had started to move downwards towards his property. RNZ/Calvin Samuel
“”And they said, you have to get out, the hill’s moving, you need to get dressed and get out immediately, so we were in a state of shock.”
Mud and debris littered his driveway, as water from the pipe pushed the landslide faster while evacuees made their way out.
Jacobs said aside from the rude awakening he was happy to report the The Motuhoa Road community and local authorities had looked after them all fabulously.
His house had no water, but after a day of slugging mud out of his neighbours driveway, he was looking forward to staying in his own bed and watching the tennis.
Tony Jacobs assists with the clean up on a neighbouring property on Motuhoa Rd. RNZ/Calvin Samuel
Drummond echoed the sentiment, grateful to live in small community who looks after each other.
It’s unclear when the landslide would be able to be removed and what it would mean for the neighbouring and blocked off residents.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
