Cylone Gabrielle: Piha residents flee for their lives as hillside collapses

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As huge boulders started rolling down the hill towards their house, Auckland woman Leanne McMillan heard her husband’s voice telling her to do one thing - run.

She and her husband, Peter McNally, had just been watching the end of the 6pm news when they realised they were in trouble.

“Boulders started coming down the hill and one smashed into our house,” McMillan told Newsroom.

“There was an enormous crash and Peter just said: ‘Run. Grab [the dog] Archie and run’. Then, basically, the whole back of the hillside came down and smashed into the back of our house.

“The trees and everything smashed - all the windows - and boulders were still coming down.”

Three large slips have come down on Piha Rd, blocking access in and out of the beach settlement. Photos / Shawn McIsaac

The couple described seeing the whole hillside of north Piha collapsing in a landslide; threatening not only their home but those around them too.

The incident happened about 7pm yesterday.

McMillan told the publication they were lucky it happened at that time, rather than in the middle of the night.

As they escaped their home, they alerted their neighbours to the situation and organised everyone in the neighbourhood to leave their homes.

“We made sure no one was left behind,” she said.

The residents spent the night at the Piha RSA, which has been turned into an emergency and evacuation centre for people impacted by the cyclone.

It is understood some locals tried to get to the facility, but were unable to due to flooding.

Mutliple landslides, slips and flooding on the main access roads have resulted in Piha effectively being cut off.

Despite their situation, McMillan and McNally acknowledged they were grateful to be safe and alive.

McMillan said: “There is going to be a lot of damage out there when day breaks.”