Supplied/WHAKATANE DISTRICT COUNCIL
Red Devon corner in Taneatua on Wednesday.
A person has been admitted to hospital with injuries after a landslide came down on top of their house as rain pummelled the Eastern Bay of Plenty triggering floods and slips.
The couple were taken to hospital by a road contractor in the early hours of Wednesday, said a spokesperson for the Tāneatua Fire Brigade.
”We didn’t know anything about it until the day, so went to have a look, and the slip has come down on the house, destroying it. We checked up on the people there – the house is not inhabitable, and one of them was admitted to hospital with minor injuries.”
The couple’s daughter thanked the road contractor who rushed her parents to hospital in the middle of the night.
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“A huge thanks to the worker who gave my parents a ride into town after their house was wiped out … also to the Taneatua Fire Brigade for coming out and checking while we were there today, making sure everyone was ok. So glad we have these sorts of people around in the community when tragedies happen,” she wrote on a community noticeboard.
Accent Media
Residents in Whakatāne were woken in the early hours by the “loud, violent noise” of rocks grinding, as a landslide fell onto the road, toppling power lines and narrowly missing houses.
Council were aware of the incident and were in contact with the property owners, a spokesperson for Whakatāne District Council said.
Road contracters were still working on clearing the slip on Thursday morning, as well as a slip in Valley Road, Whakatāne.
Towns were isolated with roads to Tāneatua and Rūātoki were inaccessible after heavy rain on Wednesday morning which had triggered the slips and flooding.
Up to 230mm of rain fell in the Eastern Bay of Plenty in 24 hours.
In Whakatāne, a slip in Valley Road took out power lines and covered a road
By the afternoon the slip between Awakeri and Tāneatua on State Highway 2 had been cleared, so Tāneatua residents could access Awakeri via the state highway.
Waimana Gorge remained closed between Station Road, Taneatua and Wainui Road, Kuturere due to a slip.
