Retaining wall collapses on Wellington home

File photo / Doug Sherring

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A Wellington family were forced out of their home yesterday when a retaining wall came crashing down onto their house as torrential rain lashed the city.

Robin Doddridge returned to his home in Regal Gardens, in the southern suburb of Melrose, yesterday afternoon and immediately noticed it was a lot darker than normal in the bathroom.

"There was no natural light coming in because the retaining wall was up against the side of the house...I went outside and looked at the damage in its entirety and called the fire service."

He said there was structural damage to about two-thirds of the side of the house but it didn't appear to have moved from its foundations. A geotech report was needed not just to assess damage to their property "but the whole hillside".

"Once they give us the okay in terms of the safety of the hillside we can start to preserve the integrity of our home and getting rid of all the material that's up against it."

Not that he needed much prompting to move last night. "I've got god-knows how much cubic tonnes of retaining wall up against my house so I'm not going to risk my families safety."

Mr Doddridge was able to get some essentials from inside before council engineers told him to evacuate.

"We got a few clothes and passports and the important things in life that you can't replace. We're going to go back tomorrow and have a further look."

But he was concerned about the stability of the house above them where he slip started about a metre away from that house.

Mr Doddridge told the Herald he thought the wet winter was to blame for the slip.

"The weight of that soil behind the retaining wall has to be astronomical, or was. The analogy the Fire Service gave today was like it was a big zit popping." The collapsed wall was 3.2m high and ran 20m alongside the house.

There was structural damage to his 5 year-old son Angus' room and spread shattered glass. The family spent last night at a Kilbirnie motel but the children would stay with family for the next few days while the "long-term ramifications" were worked out.

Neighbour Gary Dunnet, whose house is separated from Mr Doddridge's by the wall, said he noticed there was a crack in the soil above it and registered it with the Earthquake Commission only last week.