The desperate search for up to nine missing tourists, including ‘at least one young girl’, will continue through the night after a horror landslide struck a popular campsite.
New Zealand’s North Island suffered a series of devastating landslides on Thursday following days of record-breaking rain.
Two people were confirmed dead after a landslip wiped out a home in Welcome Bay, in the Bay of Plenty region about 100km east of Hamilton, about 4.50am (NZDT).
The tragedy escalated when another landslide hit campervans and a shower block at the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park just hours later at 9.30am.
The Beachside Holiday Park was evacuated and the public has been urged to avoid the area while emergency responders continue to search for those feared trapped.
Searchers on the ground said there are no signs of life at the campsite, while emergency management minister Mark Mitchell confirmed ‘at least one young girl’ is among those unaccounted for.
Police Superintendent Tim Anderson added the number of people missing was in the ‘single figures’, meaning up to nine people could be trapped in the debris.
Police, Fire and Emergency New Zealand, Hato Hone St John and local security confirmed they will continue working through the night.
‘We’re going right through until we’ve rescued everyone,’ Fire and Emergency NZ commander William Park told reporters.
‘It was a significant landslip and the priority was life safety. It’s a complex and high-risk environment.’
Supt Anderson has not confirmed if anyone has been found.
‘The Fire and Emergency teams are working around the clock to achieve their aim tonight,’ he said.
‘There are at least three diggers working at the moment and all the usual agencies are working hard to do their best.’
Mitchell earlier described the east coast as ‘a war zone’ with helicopters deployed to rescue families stranded on rooftops from flooding and emergencies declared in five regions.
Australian Sonny Worrall from Newcastle, NSW, was among dozens of holidaymakers caught up in the chaos.
He was swimming in the nearby hot pools when he heard a tree crack.
‘I looked behind me, and there was a huge landslide coming down,’ he told TVNZ.
‘I turned around, and I had to jump out from my seat as fast as I could and just run. Looking behind me, there was a caravan coming right behind me.
‘It all happened in a flash. I was fearing for my life. People were panicking everywhere.’
Mark Tangney was among the first rescuers on scene after he heard screams and saw holidaymakers fleeing the campground.
‘There were six or eight other guys there on the roof of the toilet block with tools just trying to take the roof off because we could hear people screaming ‘help us, help us, get us out of here’,’ Mr Tangney told the NZ Herald.
‘We went hard for about half an hour, and after 15 minutes, the people that were trapped, we couldn’t hear them anymore.’
Roadblocks have been erected around affected areas to keep the general public out of the area.
It’s understood loved ones of the missing are waiting for updates in a gazebo closer to the scene.
Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale said the conditions searchers were working in were very unstable.
‘They’re having to be careful because we don’t want to have any other issues during the night,’ he said.
‘They’re going to be working 24/7 until they have searched every piece of earth.’
Tauranga – the closest city to Mount Maunganui – received 295mm in the 30 hours to 6am Thursday.
Huge swathes of the North Island were smashed by torrential rain on Wednesday, with meteorologists MetService issuing a rare red weather warning for a ‘threat to life’ in several regions and a state of local emergency.
In Warkworth near Auckland, a 47-year-old man was swept away in his car by the swollen Mahurangi River.
His wife said he was travelling with his nephew and had managed to push the boy towards a branch, allowing him to escape the water.
However, the man was unable to save himself.
His wife is holding onto the hope his strong swimming skills, from being a fisherman, will be enough to ensure his survival.
‘I know his personality is strong, wise,’ she told RNZ.
Rescue efforts are still underway for those trapped on their roofs by water in the Tairawhiti region, specifically in Te Araroa, about 290km east of the landslides.
Thousands more people in Northland, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, and Tairawhiti were also left without power after the storm and flooding.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon promised his government would do everything possible to support those affected.
‘To the emergency responders, Defence Force personnel, and all those who are putting themselves in harm’s way to keep Kiwis safe, the whole country is grateful,’ he wrote online.
‘We continue to urge people in affected areas to follow the advice of local authorities.’
He also added that the country is ‘heavy with grief’ after the ‘profound tragedy’ of the recent weather.
‘The weather events of the past 48 hours have been a profound tragedy, claiming lives and devastating livelihoods,’ Luxon wrote.
CRE: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15487605/New-Zealand-landslide-missing-death-toll.html