A camper who narrowly avoided being caught in the horror slip at Mount Maunganui says he saw muddy water pouring behind the ablution block hours before the hillside collapsed on top of it.
(You can see a range of a photos showing the scene a few hours before the slip here in our live coverge.)
Paul Leslie said he was “gutted” by the slip that swallowed campers at the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park on Thursday morning.
Leslie, who lives in his caravan around Mount Maunganui, said he had booked into the Pilot Bay side of the campground when he heard bad weather was coming, believing he was safer and more sheltered there than on the lower, ocean side of the camp near the surf club.
He awoke around 7am on Thursday and went for a walk, seeing closed tracks and council staff assessing slips around Mauao. He said he was surprised to see that no evacuations were taking place around the surf club after a slip had already come down nearby.
When he returned to the camp around 7.30am he headed to the ablution block, the same structure that would be consumed by earth just hours later, and saw streams of muddy water pouring down both sides of the block, coming from the hill above.
“I went and had a shower there and people were complaining about this muddy water because you couldn’t get into the ablutions without walking through this muddy water.
“I suppose that was a sign,” he said, telling Stuff there was a small slip on the hill at the time, to the side of where the larger slip would later come down.
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A twist of fate meant Leslie wasn’t in the block when the slip hit, as he decided to head to the shops to replace a battery in his car’s key fob.
“Normally when I stay in there, if I’m not working during the day, I sleep in a bit and get up about 9.30am and have a shower.
The hill would later collapse on the ablution block at exactly that time.
“So I’m just so thankful… if I’d done that…,” a shocked Leslie said.
He said he wasn’t aware that the running water had been reported to staff at the Council-owned camp but noted that the office did not open until 8.30am.
Leslie expressed surprise that staff from Tauranga District Council, who he said were inspecting sites outside the camp, were not taking action inside the campground itself.
“They were more worried about the mountain tracks, stopping people getting there, “ he said.
“There were no extra precautions, “ he said.
“It just feels like we’ve lost the heart of the Mount,” the Mount Maunganui resident said as he discussed the damage to one of his favourite spots, acknowledging the pain felt by the families still waiting for news.
“I feel really, really sad for these people that are waiting… it’s just heartbreaking, isn’t it?” he said.
“I’m just gutted because it’s my happy place.”
CRE – Stuff