Listen to this article
Estimated 3 minutes
The audio version of this article was created with AI-based technology. Mispronunciations may occur. We are working with our partners to continuously evaluate and improve the results.
Rescuers combed through the rubble of a camp in New Zealand on Thursday, among them children, as they searched for those missing after heavy rains swept away thousands of people in landslides.
Houses were evacuated and roads closed as rain lashed almost the entire North Island’s east coast, with police estimating the death toll in the single digits after a landslide hit the Mount Maunganui tourist site on Wednesday.
As they worked through the night to find the missing, rescuers used earthmoving equipment to dig up debris, emergency services said in a statement.
“This is a complex and high-risk area,” added Megan Stiffler, a fire and emergency services official. The teams will work overnight until the search is complete.
The number of people missing is in the single digits, Police Superintendent Tim Anderson said at a news conference, adding that “we may find someone alive.”
Helicopters and search and rescue dogs were deployed in the hunt, while media reports said 8,000 people were still without power, down from 16,000 earlier. No death has been confirmed yet.
Describes a Canadian slide.
One witness, Canadian Dion Silch, was getting a massage in the nearby mountain hot tubs when the landslide occurred.
“The whole room started shaking violently … it was like a freight train going past you,” Siluk told Reuters.
“We looked out the window and there was a passenger in the hot tub.”
Silch, who stayed in the camp, said he left the area with his wife and two daughters; Emergency crews are working to locate missing people.
Fire and Emergency Chief William Pike said the threat of additional tremors prompted first responders to evacuate despite seeing signs of life, but no sound was heard in the rubble.
“My understanding is that members of the public … tried to get into the wreckage and heard some noises,” he said, adding that the sounds were also heard by firefighters at the scene.
Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell was quoted as saying that children were among the missing.
People lost elsewhere
Police said two people were missing after another landslide hit a house in neighboring Papamoa, and a third was missing after their vehicle was washed away north of Auckland on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the government is doing all it can to support those affected.
Transport officials said roads were closed in the Northland, Bay of Pentity and Waikato areas, while local officials said road damage cut off some small communities.
Weather officials have lifted all North Island warnings as the warm low moves east.