Maunganui Bluff rockfall threatens homes, residents evacuated

A string of houses at Aranga Coast Rd have been evacuated. (Photo/KDC)

An avalanche of boulders on Maunganui Bluff has forced Aranga Coast Rd to be closed
and homeowners at the small, west coast beach settlement to be evacuated.

While several huge boulders plummeted down the 460 metre bluff's southern flank a month ago, the situation went into high alert after an inspection of the area revealed a massive rock teetering high on the hill above the settlement.

That boulder, estimated to be about 3.5 metres long and high, is being held up only by two branches of a pohutukawa tree, Kaipara District Council (KDC) spokesman Ben Hope said.

It is understood the landowners, Te Roroa iwi, organised a site survey last week.

The results spurred a multi-agency response by KDC, Department of Conservation, Te Roroa and Northland Regional Council to seal the area and notify some home owners to move out or, in the case of holiday property owners, stay away.

"We've closed the road due to potential rockfall and a few residents had to be moved," Mr Hope said.

The road is closed between where the string of houses starts and the beach front, and DoC closed the walking track that climbs to Maunganui Bluff's summit via cliffs and native forest.

An Earthquake Commission-appointed engineer from environmental and engineering consultancy Tonkin and Taylor visited the site yesterday.

Decisions such as extending or opening the road closure, house evacuations and other safety measures would be reviewed when that report was in hand, Mr Hope said.

Access to the beach, which is not via a formed road, has also been closed.

During the August rockfall, boulders plunged down the steep, bush-clad shoulder and landed in back yards of private properties on the high side of the road.

An ablutions block at a building site was wiped out and a boulder came to rest against the back of a bach.

Meanwhile, the boulder and tree that are in a precarious situation are "nowhere near the walking track and a long way up".