Landslides hit New Zealand, children among missing after heavy rain

Rescue teams in New Zealand are searching for several missing people, including children, after powerful landslides swept through parts of the North Island following days of heavy rain, forcing evacuations and cutting off roads.

The most serious incident occurred at Mount Maunganui on Thursday morning, where a landslide struck a popular holiday park at about 9.30 am local time, hitting campervans and a shower block during the final week of the summer school holidays. Authorities said the exact number of people missing remained unclear.

Read also: Amazon Prime’s Surge In New Zealand Points to Massive Digital Shift

Mark Mitchell, Emergency management minister said rescue efforts were continuing but were being slowed by the risk of further landslides.

“Rescuers are working as hard as they can to try and recover people from the slide,” Mitchell told reporters. “But it is a difficult and challenging site, because we could face further slides there.”

Tim Anderson, Police District Commander Superintendent said there was still hope of finding survivors. “It is possible that we could find someone alive,” he said, adding that the number of missing was “in the single figures”.

Read also: New Zealand to launch 2 immigration pathways for skilled migrants

Fire and Emergency Commander William Park said first responders had initially detected signs of life in the rubble but were forced to pull back for safety reasons.

“Our initial fire crew arrived and were able to hear the same,” Park said. “Shortly after that, we withdrew everyone from the site due to the possible movement of the slip.”

Elsewhere, police said two people were missing after a separate landslide hit a house in Papamoa. In another incident, a 47-year-old man was reported missing after attempting to cross the flooded Mahurangi River north of Auckland, where his car was swept away, according to Radio New Zealand.

Read also: Nigerians eligible to apply for New Zealand’s seasonal visa schemes, valid for 3 years

Mitchell confirmed that two bodies had been recovered from a landslide at Welcome Bay in Papamoa, while one person was seriously injured. Local media reported that children were among those still unaccounted for.

Residents across parts of the North Island have also been cut off after landslides blocked key roads, including at Helena Bay, where debris and a massive boulder crashed onto a main route, isolating several communities, the New Zealand Herald reported.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on X that he was “actively monitoring situations across the country”, as emergency services continued rescue and recovery efforts amid worsening weather conditions.