Mount Maunganui slip: Hero camper was teacher who lost her life

A Morrinsville teacher has been credited as the hero who saved lives by urging other campers to evacuate before the deadly landslide hit Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park.

Waikato man Lance McFarlane said Lisa Maclennan woke him and his daughter from their tent early on Thursday morning, about 4.30am, to warn them about slips.

“She actually woke us up and asked if we were OK. I just said ‘yeah, no, we’re OK’. We didn’t know, me and my daughter, we didn’t know anything, we didn’t hear anything until she woke us up.”

He said she was staying in the site next to them and had woken up after a small slip had pushed her caravan forward.

“She’s done a very good job of getting people to move and making them aware.

“She was warning everyone that there was slips, [saying] I recommend you move because she felt guilty if she didn’t tell them.”

They immediately got up, and while they were shifting their gear they could see other slips moving.

McFarlane told him said she had been contacting officials to make them aware of the slip.

After being woken up by Maclennan, he and his daughter had packed up and were waiting for the camp’s office to give them a refund when the deadly landslide hit at 9.30am. He left his ute in front of the complex to go for a walk with his daughter in the meantime, and they got about 10 metres when the slip happened.

“I just heard the noise and I just looked up and I just said, ‘run’, and we just ran.”

Since the slip, his priority had been his daughter’s safety and getting her away from the scene of the tragedy.

Morrinsville Intermediate School principal Jenny Clark posted on Facebook on Saturday afternoon that the school was saddened to report that Maclennan, a Literacy Centre tutor, was among those trapped in the landslide.

“We continue to hope and pray for Lisa.”

Other people confirmed missing following the landslide are Sharon Maccanico, 15 from Auckland; Max Furse-Kee, 15 from Auckland; Susan Knowles, 71, from Rotorua; Måns Bernhardsson, 20, from Sweden; and Jacqualine Wheeler, 71, from Rotorua.