Auckland floods: Cliff collapse ‘terrifying - like a big animal running in the hedge’ - Massey victim

The Millers' two Massey homes after the January 27 flooding. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Auckland cliff-collapse victims have told how terror gripped their family when the earth began to fall and “it was like a big animal running in the hedge”.

Douglas Miller and his daughter Mavis said that about 10 friends and family members were gathered in the upstairs lounge of their multimillion-dollar Massey clifftop home, preparing to celebrate an upcoming family wedding.

Then, disaster hit.

Those inside noticed vegetation in front of the home moving in a strange, slow, unusual way like nothing they had seen before.

“My daughter said ‘dad, you have to come and see this’. They described it as like a big animal running in the hedge - the trees moving. It was terrifying,” Douglas Miller said from Kumeū, where he is staying.

The property on January 28, after the fatal floods. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Property records show Douglas and Denise Miller own the two Massey houses, photographed by Brett Phibbs via drone a day after the Friday, January 27, Auckland floods.

Those images show sheer drops beneath both Miller properties, with decks hanging over the edge of what is now a sheer cliff.

Douglas Miller said trees, bushes and plants growing towards the edge of what had been the top of a slope, not a cliff, had shifted that night in the first warning sign.

“We’d all just got in that evening,” he said, telling of preparations for their elder daughter’s February 3 wedding.

“It all started happening at 20 to six. I was outside, unclogging drains and digging trenches. There were three landslides: the first one was on the left, then in the middle then on the right,” he said.

The slips occurred suddenly and made a “huge crack, then you can smell the soil in the air. It was scary. We didn’t know whether the house was going to fall.”

Miller’s son pulled his jet ski away just before the final collapse.

“By the time the second one went, we had evacuated the house and were standing near the road. We had to evacuate,” Miller said, telling how those inside realised the family home in the same hands for three decades was potentially dangerous.

Many large landslides at Massey, photographed from Taipari Strand, Te Atatu Peninsula. Photo / Hayden Woodward

They called emergency services and were advised to leave immediately. Police visited but could do little that night, Miller said.

Mavis Miller told how she noticed something very odd to begin with. The rain was coming down and people with her in the lounge that night spotted unusual plant movement around 5.40pm.

“It was like a wild animal. You know you don’t know what you are looking at? At first, it looked like something was running in the trees. You’re thinking: what is happening? The trees were just moving slowly side to side and then it all dropped.”

She said it was fortunate so many friends and family were in that upstairs lounge because it gave them such a clear view of the disaster unfolding below.

“We were just chatting and in that spot. We thought ‘OK, everybody’. This is shocking. We probably need to get out of the house. We all went and stood on the driveway far from the cliff, towards the road. By the time the last slide hit it was around 7pm,” she said.

Her parents had bought the neighbouring homes now teetering on the cliff edge in 1992. The places are at the upper reaches of the Waitematā, not far from the Northwestern Motorway.

Douglas Miller said all appeared to be well for three decades and he never had any reason to be concerned about the homes, buildings, sections - or cliff collapses. Nothing had fallen previously.

Upper reaches of the Waitemata flow through Massey. Photo / Google Maps

The land contour between the private homes and the beach was not a cliff until a fortnight ago but instead, a heavily forested, gradual sloping bank. It was even accessible and there was once a walkway between the homes and the water, he said. But the family didn’t swim there due to mangroves.

Mavis Miller, 30, said she and her younger brother had lived at the home all their lives. Only their older sister, aged 33, had not been born there, she said.

Asked about her connection to the family home and how she felt about the disaster, she paused before saying: “It’s not a nice thing.”

Douglas Miller said the family had “all pulled together” and supported each other.

Three slips occurred in front of 107 and 109 Colwill Rd, Massey, on the night of January 27. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Many friends and others contacted them, offering to establish a Givealittle page “but I said no”.

The refrigeration and air conditioning businessman works from his garage and said although both their homes were red-stickered by Auckland Council around 12.30pm on January 28 barring entry, the family had been given time to gather precious possessions.

Asked if he expected the two homes and buildings to be demolished, he said “I hope not”. Mavis Miller said: “Land can be reclaimed. There’s a chance they put a retaining wall in.”

Douglas Miller said he had asked that the homes be repaired but nothing was decided. He cannot say what damage has been caused to any of the buildings on his land.

Miller said he got a call on Sunday to say his home was on the front of the Herald on Sunday. It was the full-page image in the tabloid.

Asked why he had bought the properties, he said: “There’s been no trouble in 30 years.”

The Millers are now seeking a rental property to stay in until matters are resolved at their two Massey places.

Yesterday, an on-site meeting was held with representatives from IAG Insurance, geotechnical engineers, the council and EQC.

Miller said he took heart from that and hopes for an update soon.