The chief coroner says identifying victims will be complex and time consuming. Video / Alyse Wright, Jason Dorday, Annabell Reid
Residents are being evacuated this evening on the East Coast over landslide risks Civil Defence says are posing “potential risk to life”.
Civil Defence has ordered around 30 houses evacuate in Onepoto and parts of Te Araroa, after finding evidence of unstable land in close proximity to houses yesterday.
Thereis no indication of when residents might be able to return.
“Significant landslide risk had been identified but no geotech assessments have yet been completed,”Tairāwhiti Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Group Controller Ben Green said.
“We need to be confident there is no risk to life and until this has been completed they will not be returning,” Green said in a statement released by Gisborne District Council this evening.
“When we visited Te Araroa yesterday we saw evidence of landslides in close proximity to houses and the potential risk to life is too great, until we understand what the geotech assessments come back with.”
The evacuations, which are being led by police and Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ), are being supported by the community civil defence teams.
Civil Defence said evacuees will either be relocated to friends and whānau, or housed or within the community.
The settlement at Onepoto Bay is being evacuated due to a landslide risk from the hills above. Photo / Civil Defence
“Te Araroa FENZ are inside the risk zone and will be moving their appliance and equipment to an alternate site,” Green said.
The evacuations come as a recovery mission continues in Mount Maunganui after a massive landslide saw a campground devastated.
Police today released the names of six people unaccounted for, saying following the discovery of human remains, it had turned from a rescue mission to a recovery operation.
Whangārei district remains under a state of emergency after torrential rain on Sunday, followed by a storm on Wednesday, caused slips and flooding on the northeast coast.
The settlements of Ōakura, Mokau, Helena Bay and Teal Bay were some of the worst affected by the two storms, with the area cut off by a huge slip on Helena Bay hill on Russell Rd and a washout at Ngaiotonga Bridge on Rawhiti Rd.
