Source: Radio New Zealand
Residents on Wellington’s south coast are relieved no one was hurt.
Fire and Emergency (FENZ) was called to a large slip in Vancouver Street in the suburb of Kingston at 8.13am on Monday, after heavy rain.
A FENZ spokesperson said all residents have been accounted for and those who were cut off by the slip have since been evacuated on foot.
Residents were shocked by the sheer amount of debris that came come down the hillside.
The landslide brought down a huge amount of dirt, rocks and trees across the road. RNZ / Mark Papalii
Ben Morrison was trying to get out of the cul-de-sac on Vancouver Street / Amos Way.
Morrison said the slip occurred about 3am and his neighbour heard a shake.
He said a huge amount of rubble came down across the road.
Residents on a Kingston street are assessing the “unbelievable” landslide. RNZ / Mark Papalii
“It’s a really big landslide that’s covering the whole road.
“It’s definitely a big event…you wouldn’t have wanted to be under it, it wouldn’t have been survivable.”
Morrison said he was trying to escape on the back of his neighbour’s motorbike.
Ben Morrison said he was trying to escape on the back of his neighbour’s motorbike. RNZ / Ellen O’Dwyer
Ayla Anderson said the slip brought down trees and large rocks, with debris everywhere.
She said it was lucky no one was hurt.
“It’s absolutely unbelievable. There must be at least 10 to 11 tonnes of mass here. It’s awful. Thank goodness no one was hurt.”
Ayla Anderson. RNZ / Mark Papalii
Huge deluge’ flows through garden
Colin Basterfield said he woke at 4am to see his garden become a river as floodwaters tore through.
“I took a look outside and realised that all of the garden was inundated with water, you couldn’t see the grass or anything.
“(It was a) huge deluge, flow, river in fact, flowing through the garden.”
It washed his lawn away, and got under his deck, and into his downstairs too.
Now a “series of small rivers” were running through the garden, leaving nothing but mud, silt and debris.
“I think however we’ve got here, climate wise, we are here – I don’t care what people say, I think we are experiencing climate change.
Basterfield said it was a “shock” to see the power of the waters raging through his garden.
Fellow Mornington resident Glen Phillips said about 4am, rocks came down from 500 metres up the hill with water.
“All of the rocks came down – and the car pads have been wiped out underneath, I’m assuming they’ll tow the car there.”
He said the water cut through the land and flowed down into the gardens.
“While it now looks pretty calm, there was a torrent of rivers going down both sides into the houses down there.”
FENZ said the landslide was entirely blocking the road, isolating residents in up to six homes.
A spokesperson said all residents were accounted for and an Urban Search and Rescue team helped evacuate everyone on foot.
Debris from the landslide. RNZ / Mark Papalii
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
