Rescuers in New Zealand were searching for several people, including at least one child, after a landslide tore through a popular holiday campsite as days of record-breaking rain and flooding continued to batter the country.
The landslide struck a campground at the base of Mount Maunganui on Thursday morning, overturning campervans, crushing tents, and hitting a toilet and shower block, according to emergency officials.
Rescue teams said they initially heard voices calling for help from beneath the rubble but had detected no further signs of life by late afternoon, as concerns grew about the stability of the hillside.
The landslide comes after days of torrential rain linked to a tropical weather system, which has dumped extraordinary volumes of rain across large parts of the North Island.
New Zealand’s emergency management minister, Mark Mitchell, said parts of the east coast resembled “a war zone”, with helicopters deployed to rescue families trapped on rooftops and local states of emergency declared across several regions.
“It’s a fluid and sensitive issue at the moment,” Mr Mitchell told Radio New Zealand. “Everyone is working as hard as they can to get the best possible resolution, but it is a very difficult and challenging situation.”
Fire and Emergency New Zealand said around 40 firefighters, including urban search and rescue teams and sniffer dogs, were working at the site, which has been fully evacuated. Two excavators have also been deployed to help remove debris.
Fire and Emergency commander William Pike said first responders had heard voices when they arrived shortly after the slip but were later forced to pull back because of the risk of further movement.
“Initially, when the first arriving crews arrived, there were some signs of life,” he told local media. “But we withdrew our people to make sure the slip didn’t move any further.”
Police said the number of people unaccounted for was believed to be in the “single figures”, though the exact number remained unclear as some campers had checked out without notifying authorities.
Witnesses described scenes of chaos as the hillside collapsed. Sonny Worrall, an Australian tourist who was swimming in nearby hot pools, told local media he narrowly avoided being hit by a caravan.
“I heard rolling thunder and cracking trees,” he said. “The whole hillside gave way. It was the scariest thing I’ve ever felt in my life.”
Authorities said the Bay of Plenty region, where Mount Maunganui is located, recorded its wettest day on record, with the nearby city of Tauranga receiving about 295mm of rain in just over 30 hours – roughly two and a half months’ worth of rainfall.
Local states of emergency have been declared in Northland, Coromandel Peninsula, Tairawhiti, Hauraki and parts of the Bay of Plenty, with residents urged to evacuate low-lying areas and avoid all non-essential travel.
