Landslides hit a campground and a house in New Zealand and emergency crews were trying to rescue people buried in rubble, officials said yesterday.
Emergency services were called to the slide at the base of Mount Maunganui on New Zealand’s North Island after 9:30am. The rubble hit Beachside Holiday Park in a town named after the volcano. Images showed vehicles, travel trailers and a bathroom block crushed by debris.
Police Superintendent Tim Anderson said that the number of people missing was in “single figures,” but did not say further how many were affected.
Photo: Reuters
Another landslide hit a house in the nearby Welcome Bay community at 4:50am, a police statement said.
Two people escaped the house, but two others were missing, Anderson said.
A rescue operation was under way there.
Further north near Warkworth, a man remained missing after floodwaters swept him from a road on Wednesday morning as heavy rain lashed large swathes of the North Island, a police statement said.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon urged residents in affected areas to heed local authorities’ safety advice during the extreme conditions.
“Extreme weather continues to cause dangerous conditions across the North Island. Right now, the government is doing everything we can to support those impacted,” Luxon wrote on social media.
At Mount Maunganui, no survivors had been recovered, Fire and Emergency NZ Commander William Pike said.
“Members of the public ... tried to get into the rubble and did hear some voices,” Pike told reporters. “Our initial fire crew arrived and ... were able to hear the same. Shortly after our initial crew arrived, we withdrew everyone from the site due to possible movement and slip.”
No sign of life had been detected since, Pike said.
Tauranga Mayor Mahe Drysdale said that those unaccounted for earlier had included people who had left the campground without notifying authorities.
The campground was closed after the disaster.
Australian tourist Sonny Worrall said he was lazing in a hot pool within the campground when he heard then saw the landslide.
“I looked behind me and there’s a huge landslide coming down, and I’m still shaking from it now,” Worrall told New Zealand’s 1News. “I turned around and I had to jump out from my seat as fast as I could and just run.”
He looked back to see the rubble carrying a travel trailer behind him.
“It was like the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced in my life,” Worrall said.
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