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A house in Devon Street in the Wellington suburb of Aro Valley has been evacuated after a slip eroded its foundations.
The step narrow street runs from Kelburn down to Aro Valley and is a well known student flatting area.
Wellington City Council spokesman Richard McLean said the
large slip was reported around 6am and the students living in the house, a large Victorian villa, were evacuated.
The slip moved a car on the street up against a barrier at the side of the street which held.
Devon Street is closed to traffic while engineers investigate the slip. The house has exposed piles in one corner.
The slip was one of several reported in Wellington this morning after heavy rain overnight.
There are also slips on Crawford Road in Kilbirnie, Onslow Road and Salamanca Road.
Meanwhile Environment Waikato said its emergency response team was on heightened alert after heavy overnight rain on Lake Taupo and the Upper Waipa River catchment.
This morning, Lake Taupo was only 11 centimetres below its maximum storage level of 357.25m, meaning a greater likelihood of extra water needing to come down river from the upper Waikato"s hydro electricity storage system.
Also, high flows coming down the Waipa River as a result of extra rainfall would also eventually feed into the lower Waikato river.
Environment Waikato said predictions at this stage were that the lower Waikato River's flood management systems would cope with the extra water flows.
But it was also expected that the current high river levels and surface flooding in the lower Waikato could last well into this week.
Emergency management officer Adam Munro said Environment Waikato and Mighty River Power would continue to work closely to try to ensure that any extra flows from a nearly full Lake Taupo and the hydro schemes in the upper Waikato River do not create any additional problems further downstream.
"The met service is expecting only one more band of heavy rain over the Waikato today and then the weather will be clearing up until Thursday. This breathing space will help the river systems to start flushing out but, due to the very full river systems in headwater areas, we can expect high river levels for some time."
More property owners were forced to evacuate their homes yesterday as thunderstorms, heavy rain and gale-force winds again lashed the country.
At least six homes in Auckland's North Shore were at risk from slips, two of them under immediate threat, with evacuated residents unsure when they would be able to return.
Weather experts warned the latest deluge could cause further headaches for properties suffering from landslides around the country.
"There are some very big showers forming in the Tasman Sea," said Radio Network head weather analyst Philip Duncan.
"The risk for thunderstorms and isolated heavy downpours causing surface and flash flooding remains high for all regions from Taranaki northwards. Waterways already swollen from recent rains - some receiving twice their July rainfall in just five days - won't be able to tolerate much more rain."
Residents of North Shore's Mulberry Place face at least a month in motels, courtesy of insurance companies, as they wait for the results of an investigation by council assessors, engineers and Earthquake Commission staff.
Evacuated resident John Smith said "dramatic shifts" had been occurring all week and he hoped this weekend's wild weather wouldn't cause further damage.
"I'm not allowed to go back to live at the moment - it's too unstable - but I went in this morning just to grab some clothes," he said.
"In the last week it's been dramatic. We've had footpaths cracking, water mains bursting, and houses twisting."
The North Shore City Council had monitored the situation for 18 months, even building a retaining wall, but the recent bad weather was too much for the soft soil.
Smith praised the council and commission experts who had "pulled out all the stops" over the past few days.
"They've come out to seal the cracks, but it's a hopeless task. The road just keeps on moving."
Another Mulberry Place resident, Louis Jovanovic, woke up yesterday morning to find a "different driveway" outside his home.
"I saw big holes, cracks and slopes that weren't there before." North Shore Mayor Andrew Williams said the slip at Mulberry Place was measured at 5m. At Torbay's Lingham Cres, the slip depth was thought to be 12m.
Fourteen homes in Lingham Cres were cordoned off, with Kim Marsden's three-bedroom house the worst-damaged and awaiting demolition tomorrow.
No further movement had been recorded in the street and the residents of two homes below Marsden's had been told they could move back.
Max Rutland, 80, and Colleen Nolt had a nervous wait to see if the predicted deluge would send their house in Omokoroa, west of Tauranga, tumbling down.
Rutland watched in horror as his backyard slipped away while he tried to secure a retaining wall on Wednesday.
Speaking from a neighbour's home yesterday afternoon, he said the couple was "sad" about the state of their home of 19 years, which had required strengthening after a slip several years ago.
The couple had already lodged a claim with the Earthquake Commission, one of 30 reportedly filed from homeowners in Tauranga and the Coromandel since the latest spate of wild weather.
"We don't know whether the house will have to be demolished. It could still go at any time."
Gloria Putt, a butcher in Mokau, estimated the Taranaki coastal settlement had already lost about five metres of land to extraordinarily stormy seas. One bach was on the cliff edge and Putt feared another high tide could claim it.
Rain was expected to ease this morning and clearing skies were predicted in the afternoon for most of New Zealand.
