Mount Maunganui landslide: Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale recounts confronting scenes

Two weeks ago today, about 9.30am, a landslide hit the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park. Hope gave way to grief as it was confirmed six lives had been lost. Tauranga’s mayor of 17 months, former world rowing champion Mahé Drysdale, tells Local Democracy Reporting journalist Ayla Yeoman what he experienced.

Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale has described the days following the Mauao landslide tragedy as “the hardest week of my life”.

He said he and other councillors were in the council’s offices on Devonport Rd when the news came in on January 22.

The day before, the Bay of Plenty region had been put into a local state of emergency after the MetService issued a red heavy rain warning.

The worst of the storm swept through overnight, causing damage around Tauranga and the neighbouring Western Bay of Plenty district - including two people unaccounted for in a slip-hit home in rural Pāpāmoa. Tauranga City Council had closed Mauao to the public because of slips.

“We were here in a meeting assessing the damage from the night before,” Drysdale said of the moment he first heard about the devastating campground landslide.

Councillor Kevin Schuler saw a group chat message on his phone about the slip and told his colleagues.

Schuler told Local Democracy Reporting one of his wife’s friends saw the slip come down and sent a message to the chat at 9.34am.

Drysdale said they went downstairs and staff showed them pictures.

“We had no idea of the scale or what we were dealing with. I guess the initial reaction was, ‘We’ve got to get over there’,” Drysdale said.

In the car, he and deputy mayor Jen Scoular - the Mauao/Mount Maunganui ward councillor - tried to make sense of the little information they had.

Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale next to deputy mayor Jen Scoular at one of the media stand-ups after the slip. Photo / Hayden Woodward.

When they reached the scene on Adams Ave and saw the slip with their own eyes, Drysdale said his first thought was “Oh shit”.

The information they had was “sketchy”, but they quickly realised the magnitude of the situation and made their way to the Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service building to meet with families of those unaccounted for in the landslide, and people who had experienced near misses.

“There was a lack of information at that point,” Drysdale said. Some people hoped their missing loved ones were just “out for breakfast”, and not caught up in the unfolding disaster.

Drysdale said the whole thing was “unreal”.

Police, fire and emergency services at Mount Maunganui campground. Photo / Jason Dorday

“As a mayor, you always know that something like that is a possibility and you always hope that you’re never going to have to face it.”

He said when it became a reality, he had to deal with it the best he could because “there’s no manual”.

He had to find his feet quickly as people were looking to him for information and advice.

He commended the emergency services on-site and how organised they were, and recognised the volunteers and those who donated food to the point where there was “too much”.

“It was quite humbling to be honest, to see everyone wanting to do something and helping out.

“I was amazed by how everyone just managed to come together … From my perspective, it ran incredibly smoothly.”

Drysdale said the two days following the landslide were filled with “significant hope” as a rescue mission continued.

Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale speaks at a vigil a week after the landslide. Photo / Hayden Woodward

“There was always hope that there was some sort of chamber or some sort of protection … that people were in.

“I think as time went on, that hope did start to fade.”

He said once the scale of damage to the ablution block hit by the slip was discovered, they knew there would not be any survivors.

The rescue operation became a recovery.

“The whole mood certainly changed once the hope disappeared.”

Drysdale, who spent years as a world-leading rower, said throughout his life he had learned how to handle pressure and cope with challenging situations, but “nothing prepares you for it”.

Bouquets and tributes at the Mount Maunganui landslide cordon. Photo / Ayla Yeoman

“I can genuinely say that the week or 10 days until they recovered all those bodies was the hardest week of my life for sure.

“Seeing those families and not being able to do anything to take that pain away. It’s pretty confronting.”

His days were “hectic” and long. They included time with the families and agencies at the scene, media duties, attending vigils and other public gatherings, community updates, council briefings and talking with affected businesses, MPs and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.

Drysdale said it was hard on his wife and three children.

“My priorities were with what was happening … I was doing long hours and they were at home feeling what everyone else was feeling.”

He said his wife, Juliette, had always been a massive support, but she struggled to cope with it all.

“Having your own family, you can only imagine how hard that would be if you were put into that situation. I guess it gives you more of a perspective.”

Search work at Mount Maunganui campground after deadly landslide. Photo / Dean Purcell

The final victim was formally identified by the chief coroner on Saturday night, the 10th day of the search.

Emergency services began pulling out the next day, and the site has since been handed over to Tauranga City Council by police.

The top of Mount Maunganui North remains cordoned off, with some businesses unable to open.

“We will do everything we can to get those businesses [within the cordon] open and then reduce the cordons as much as we can while protecting the safety of the people,” Drysdale said.

“We want to see those businesses have an opportunity to thrive, and then we’ll start turning our attention to the Mount Hot Pools, the campground, and all that goes along with that.”

The council faces intense public scrutiny given its ownership of the campground and role in the management of Mauao, with its history of slips.

In an emergency meeting on Monday, councillors agreed to have Drysdale appoint an external person to conduct an organisational review, gathering the facts and a timeline, and identifying any lessons that could prevent something like this from happening again.

“I never want to deal with another one of these,” Drysdale said.

– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

Ayla Yeoman is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based in Tauranga. She holds a Bachelor of Arts majoring in communications, politics and international relations from the University of Auckland, and has been a journalist since 2022.