Multiple people missing in New Zealand after landslip at Mount Maunganui campground
A witness has described people ‘running and screaming’ and becoming ‘trapped’.
Multiple people are missing across the North Island of New Zealand after a tropical storm brought huge rainfall.
A state of emergency is now in effect, after a landslip on Thursday morning at a campground in tourist hotspot Mount Maunganui left “several people” unaccounted for, according to NZ Police.
At least one young girl is among those still missing from the since-evacuated campground, BBC reports the Minister for Emergency Management Mark Mitchell said.
Two more people are also missing after another landslip around properties at Welcome Bay, NZ Police said.
Further north in Warkworth, one man was swept away in floodwaters on Wednesday as others were pulled to safety during dramatic rescues.
Meteorologists at MetService issued a rare “red” weather warning, signalling a “threat to life” in several regions, as huge swathes of the North Island were drenched.
The Coromandel Peninsula received over 200mm of rain on Wednesday, and the Bay of Islands was hit with over 150mm.
Tauranga — the closest city to Mount Maunganui — received 295mm of rain in the 30 hours to 6am, before the landslip around 9.30am.
Screams were heard at the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park when the landslip hit campervans, and a shower and toilet block, local media reported.
Lifeguards at one of New Zealand’s most popular beaches, Mount Maunganui, shared footage of the landslip on the mountain often utilised by trail-walkers.
A nearby fisherman, Alister Hardy, told the NZ Herald said he heard “rolling thunder and cracking of trees”, before looking up and seeing “the whole hillside gave way”.
“There were people running and screaming and I saw people get bowled. There are people trapped,” he said.
In Warkworth, a man aged in his 40s driving his car was swept away in the swollen Mahurangi River, while a passenger was able to scramble to safety.
Police are continuing their search on Thursday while, further east, rescue efforts are also underway for stranded locals in the remote Tairawhiti region.
Mark Law, a helicopter pilot who was involved in rescue efforts after the deadly 2019 Whakaari-White Island volcanic eruption, has been conducting rooftop checks in Te Araro where residents are fleeing floodwaters, he told Radio NZ.
Another couple in Welcome Bay, near Tauranga, were also rescued after a landslip hit their house, with one seriously injured, according to local MP Tom Rutherford.
Thousands of people, in Northland, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty and Tairawhiti, have also left without power from the storm and flooding.
The “red” alert weather warnings issued by Metservice are reserved for only the most concerning events.
This week’s alert is the first rain-related “red” warning to hit the area since Cyclone Gabrielle killed 11 people and caused $8 billion in damage in early 2023.
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