Trampers in Fiordland recall 'roaring' noise before hut is hit by a landslide

Tuesday, 4 February 2020

A roaring noise woke up trampers in the Howden Hut on the Routeburn Track at 1.30am - then a landslide with rocks, mud and trees crashed into the building.

Six adult members of the Moffitt and Second families were among about 30 people in the hut at the time, in the early hours of Tuesday.

They said people in the hut had scrambled out of bed when the roaring intensified.

Seconds later a large tree branch plunged through the hut's wall and into a bunk which one man had jumped out of seconds earlier.

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'It was a roaring noise and huge crash and sound of splintering wood,' Josh Moffitt, of Newcastle, Australia, said.

'People were in full blown shock, people were crying, people were shaking.'

Some suffered minor cuts and bruising but none were seriously injured, he said.

The hut shifted with the force of the landslide and structural beams were buckled.

'We put tables on top of each other to support the roof.'

A nearby toilet block was 'erased' by the full brunt of the landslide which had narrowly missed the hut.

If the full brunt had hit the hut people would have died, he said.

He praised the level headedness of the hut ranger, 'Andrea'.

'She kept her head and kept us updated.'

As trampers come out of the Fiordland National Park they are calling dramatic stories of flooding, destruction and near misses.

A family of five have survived a terrifying ordeal in the Fiordland National Park, stranded on top bunks in a hut overnight as water flowed less than a metre below them. 

Richard Sawrey said he began walking the Hollyford track with his family on Saturday when the drama unfolded.

The Porirua family arrived at the McKerrow Island hut on the first evening but the water levels kept rising with the rain, stranding them at the hut for three days. They had smashed windows and holes in the hut so the water could flow through. 

'The whole island was flooded,' he said.

The family – Richard and Benjamin Sawrey and Tui, Diana and Annie Grenfell – were rescued on Tuesday morning.

However, more than 200 tourists remained trapped at Milford Sound because of flooding, and will not be rescued until Wednesday because of weather conditions.

With nowhere else to go and the water still rising the family retreated to the top bunks on Monday.

Their only other option if the water reached them in the bunks would have been to climb onto the roof, but the weather was so bad they would not have lasted, they said. They were scared the hut was going to get swept away.

They described the ordeal as terrifying and said they had no way of communicating to the outside world from the remote location.

A helicopter flew over the hut on Monday night.

'We saw it circle, we thought it was coming back last night.'

Telling Stuff their story from the Te Anau Community Centre, they believed they were lucky to be alive.

His son Benjamin Sawrey, of Wellington, said rain began falling on Saturday night. 'We had plenty of food with us so we were more than happy to wait it out for a few days.'

By the next day, the river had flooded and was lapping at the front door of the hut. Twenty-four hours later, it was chest deep and flowing through the hut.

'As the water rose it was pretty scary and it was definitely pretty overwhelming.'

They had checked the forecast before they left but were not expecting the deluge.

'The weather was extreme and beyond. We checked the forecast definitely but we didn't expect the amount of rain that prevailed.'

A helicopter returned at 7am on Tuesday and the family smashed a window and climbed onto a water tank beside the hut before being winched onto the helicopter.

Benjamin said the family was now staying for free in a homestay at Te Anau as they waited for roads to open, but it was thought their family car had been swept away in floodwaters.

'We left all our gear in the hut when we were winched out so we haven't got wallets or anything like that - just the clothes we were standing up in.

'The Te Anau community have been great, they've taken us to the Hospice Shop to get some clothes and now we're trying to work out how we'll get home. We're just pretty shattered and pretty stoked to be dry and comfortable.'

Liam Loftus, of Ireland, was on his sixth day walking the Pike Trail to Hollyford loop when the rains set in and he could not cross swollen creeks.

He back tracked to the nearest hut where he remained alone for three days before being rescued by helicopter Tuesday morning. 

'It was boring, I kept the stove going all the time and read the same book three times.'

RESCUE OF TRAMPERS 

The evacuation of trampers from huts in Fiordland was almost complete on Tuesday afternoon, Emergency Management Southland controller Angus McKay said.

All the remaining trampers in huts who were known to be in the Fiordland National Park were evacuated on Tuesday - with the exception of six people in a Milford Track hut who will be flown out Wednesday morning.

More than 50 people were now registered at a Welfare Centre set up in Te Anau and more were currently being transported on buses from the helicopter landing point at Knobs Flat. 

Most of the huts have been cleared including Island Lake Hut, Hidden Falls Hut, Gunns Camp, Big Bay Pike Hut and Pike Lodge.

Fiordland Medical Practice nurse co-ordinator Sheena Pottinger said they had treated three people who were helicoptered out of the bush with minor injuries.

Tourists who are in Milford remain at the Mitre Peak Lodge where they are comfortable and in good spirits. 

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