First
terror, then financial pain after slip
They
woke to the sound of trees ripping down the hillside under their
Wellington home, and were forced to run from the devastation with
nothing but the clothes on their backs.
2
June, 2013
Jono
Maulder and Rhia Williams' rental property in Priscilla Cres has been
left teetering on a freshly formed cliff face after a landslide tore
under their deck early on Saturday morning.
The
pair were woken by their landlords, William Chezick and Sarah
Jackson, who live in the house in front, as tonnes of dirt slid down
the hill beneath them.
"We
got out with the clothes we are standing in here today," Mr
Maulder said.
"Our
priority was personal safety. We got out and we're not allowed back
in there."
Mr
Chezick and Ms Jackson knocked on their tenants' door and called out
to them about 4.30am to get out as soon as possible.
"Two
more metres of fill going down the hill and it would have been a very
different story for Jono and Rhia," Mr Chezick said.
Residents
say the ground could be heard cracking as the slip began, sending
tonnes of dirt careering down a bank and leaving a trail 40 metres
wide by 100 metres long.
"We
could hear the ground falling away. It was like slomp, slomp. You
could hear it disappearing," said one resident.
"Our
house has got a hole under it."
The
landslide will carry a ratepayer price tag of at least $100,000, with
the Earthquake Commission likely to step in and cover some homeowner
losses.
But
others could be left out of pocket, with all the land carved away
from backyards unlikely to be eligible for cover.
An
investigation is still no closer to finding its cause, but Wellington
City Council says there are no signs at this stage that it is liable.
Council
spokesman Richard MacLean yesterday put the cost of the landslide at
"hundreds of thousands of dollars", including the cost of
reinstating the damaged sewerage and stormwater drains, and
short-term accommodation for the 35 currently homeless residents.
Three
houses have had their foundations undermined, and could face
demolition.
"There
will obviously be discussions with insurers and EQC and other
interested parties, but one of the issues that was discussed today
was the fact that a lot of the evidence is now buried here at the
bottom of the slip, so it will be difficult to pinpoint the reason
for the slip.
"There's
no glaring evidence from yesterday or from the background that says
the council or anyone is liable for this.
"If
the council is found to be liable, and there's no indication yet that
we would be or should be, it would be a matter between council and
the insurers."
Wellington
Mayor Celia Wade-Brown said rumours the landslide had been caused by
a water main burst or leak in Priscilla Cres itself were unfounded.
A
sewerage and stormwater main had been destroyed by the landslide.
About 50 metres of the piping that had initially crossed the slope
below the houses was now under rubble.
"It
is not clear whether the shifting slope fractured the pipes or
whether leaks in the pipes could have saturated the slope.
"This
issue will obviously be central to any investigation into the
landslide - but given the damage the original cause may never be
found."
It
was hoped residents of at least five houses could returnto their
homes either today or tomorrow.
The
council is paying for about half of the evacuated residents to stay
in motels until Tuesday. The rest have made their own arrangements.
"We
do have a welfare role here ... we have a moral responsibility to try
and help out. It's not an admission of liability or anything like
that," Mr MacLean said.
The
council was speaking to Housing New Zealand and its own housing staff
to arrange rental accommodation for people who could not return to
their houses.
An
EQC spokesman said one of its engineers had been at the scene since
9am on Saturday.
If
claims were accepted, they could cover land damage for the minimum
lot size or eight metres from the house, whichever was of lesser
value.
Ms
Williams was more concerned about the welfare of her cat Lewis than
the potential loss of all her worldly possessions.
Lewis
has been missing since the earth slid out from underneath her house.
"I
was really upset to lose Lewis. He is a skittish grey tabby. If the
slip did not come down on him it is possible he might even still be
in the house."
House
owners Mr Chezick, a self-employed builder, and Ms Jackson were
devastated at the thought of their investment property possibly
sliding down the hill.
Their
properties were fully insured with AMI.
WELLINGTON
LANDSLIDES
Torrential
rain in 2006 caused the last major landslide in Wellington.
One
house was destroyed and three others damaged when a gully edge in
Lower Hutt collapsed during a rainstorm on August 7.
Residents
in Vista Grove and Levin Grove said they heard a "huge, huge
bang and roar" just before 9pm.
The
back garden of Ann and Nigel Nation's home had collapsed into the
gully.
A
hole 50 metres wide had wiped out what was once lawn and gardens.
Mrs
Nation told reporters she went outside to find a "huge
waterfall" several metres wide.
"It
was making a terrible noise and a terrible smell."
They
were evacuated, along with residents of three neighbouring houses.
The
other homes were saved, but the Nation's was demolished later that
week.
A
report by Hutt City Council found the slip was caused by poor
workmanship during construction of the subdivision in the 1960s,
coupled with record rainfalls over the winter of 2006.
Foliage
had not been cleared when filling in the land. It decomposed and
acted as "a natural landslide lubricant", the council said.
Council
spokesman Don Carson said it was a miracle the land had lasted 40
years.
The
Kelson slip was one of more than 300 landslides in Wellington
triggered by horrendous weather over the winter of 2006.
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