Family evacuated as slips threaten $1 million houses

Councillor Tony Barker said 15 Awanui St 'looked like a goner'. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

A million-dollar Auckland harbourside house was in danger of falling into the sea last night after a slip tore away land beneath the property.

The slip threatened three properties. A family at one house overlooking the North Shore's Little Shoal Bay was evacuated in dark, wet weather and spent the night in a motel.

North Shore councillor Tony Barker said the house at 15 Awanui St "looked like a goner", with an exposed water main and sewage pipes.

The house is valued at more than $1 million. Number 13, valued at close to $1 million, is also at risk.

Neighbour Masako Hyland said she looked out of her window at number 9 Awanui St and "wondered why I could see so much of the sea".

"Then I realised there was a huge hole in the middle of the yard."

She and her husband were told by police to leave as a precaution but they were allowed back at 10pm last night.

Civil Defence manager David Keay, who was co-ordinating the operation, said it was an "Oh my God situation".

"If you're standing an the back door step you are looking right over the edge."

The slip followed a day of wild weather and torrential rain across the upper North Island.

A third day of foul weather is expected to pound the region today.

As much as 30mm of rain fell in an hour in parts of Auckland yesterday, causing a landslip in another North Shore suburb and flooding roads around the city.

In west Auckland, the Lower Nihotupu Dam spilled into Big Muddy Creek in the largest overflow in 10 years.

Evidence of the city-wide downpour sat in a pile at the bottom of a cliff in Beach Haven, where a sodden hillside had collapsed.

Residents woke to find part of the 30m-high cliff above Larkings Landing sitting on a shelf above the beach.

Beach warden Alan Weaver, who lives in a boat anchored in the harbour, said he heard rumbling followed by crashing about 7.30 on Sunday night but was unable to investigate properly as it was too dark.

When it got light yesterday he saw about 20 tonnes of dirt, a large tree stump and other debris at the bottom of the cliff.

His immediate concern was for a house which appeared to be dangerously close to a gaping hole at the top of the cliff.

"There's about 20 tonnes of dirt gone down there. I saw the state of it and immediately called the council."

From the top, Mr Weaver realised the house was not teetering on the edge, but was still close enough to be of concern.

The family, who did not want to be identified, evacuated on the advice of firefighters while a geo-technical engineer was called in to assess the risk, but returned to the house after being given the all-clear.

North Shore City Council customer services manager Paul O'Brien said none of the houses above the slip was at risk, although several areas of earth were still unstable and expected to come down.

Dozens of home owners around the city also suffered. The Fire Service took around 170 calls for help between Sunday afternoon and yesterday morning, when more than 80mm rain fell.

It continued to field calls from people with flooded homes and basements and by 6pm firefighters had attended nearly 40 weather-related incidents.

Police were also busy dealing with reports of flooded roads. Further north there were large slips around the Kaipara Hills and Wayby Station Rd in the Dome Valley area. Railway lines were impassable, even to emergency services.


THE OUTLOOK

* Today: Rain with heavy falls and thunderstorms for Northland, Auckland and the Coromandel. Rain and isolated thunderstorms from Waikato to Manawatu and heavy falls for Bay of Plenty.

* Tomorrow: Rain or showers for much of the North Island. Should start to brighten by afternoon.

* Thursday: Showers in the south and east of the North Island. Mostly fine elsewhere.