Morning Headlines | Council wants answers about Mt Maunganui landslide and Air NZ international cabin crew vote to strike | Wednesday, January 28, 2026
Evacuations are underway near Baypark in Tauranga as a fresh slip near a resevoir water main pipe threatens homes and lives.
Tauranga City Council said it has evacuated 150 residents from 30 properties in an area including the Mangatawa Marae and Papakāinga housing up to State Highway 2, near thesouthern end of Truman Lane in Pāpāmoa.
“After last week’s heavy rainfall, a slip has occurred near a watermain pipe to the reservoir above the marae, which has the potential to break should the land subside further.”
Tauranga City Council emergency controller Tom McEntyre said there was a risk to life and property and until the area had been further assessed the evacuation order would remain in place.
An evacuee, Khiarne Taite, said one of the pipelines had “exploded” at the top of the hill.
Emergency services have been called to the scene at Mangatawa Lane, near Baypark. Photo / Cameron Avery
He said his family were told to evacuate earlier today.
“We woke up this morning fine and dandy, and then a couple hours later, the [police were] knocking on our door telling us that one of the pipelines are about to explode with like a couple thousand tons of water,” he said.
He said he understood people had been trying to tap into the water reservoir, but one of the pipes had burst. He estimated that about 1500 people lived on the hill.
“We’re pretty worried. They think it’s going to be real bad. They think it’s going to flood all of the houses at the bottom here,” he said.
He said a couple of days ago, the hill had already had a large slip because of the rain.
“That actually hit a house that’s just below it. It pummelled one of our houses, but lucky our family wasn’t in there,” Taite said.
Police said they were notified at 12.20pm and emergency services were at the scene.
The council and police were evacuating people to Baypark.
A policeman at the scene said they were trying to make sure everyone got out safe so the council could sort out the water main.
Evacuations underway at Mangatawa Lane, near Baypark. Photos / Cameron Avery
“A water main looks like it’s going to burst, it’s a major one, and because of all the unstable ground, the council are taking precautions and evacuating people from Mangatawa Lane.”
The policeman said if the water main was to burst, there would be major flooding.
Police were going car-to-car and taking details of everyone who has arrived at Baypark, with many of those evacuated standing around in the sun.
The man directing traffic into Baypark told the Herald he wasn’t quite too sure what was happening with the evacuations, but people were told to evacuate quickly.
