Three homes evacuated, two in temp accommodation after slip in Wellington

Thursday, 18 August 2022

Capital city residents have again been forced from their homes as another slip comes down amid persistent rain. (File photo)

Three houses have been evacuated after a slip below Onslow Road in the Wellington suburb of Khandallah, after a day of heavy rain.

Wellington City Council spokesperson Richard MacLean said there had been “quite a large subsidence below one of the upper levels of the road” on Thursday afternoon.

MacLean said three houses below the road had been evacuated as a precaution and the council was providing temporary accommodation for two households.

Emergency services were “concerned that the slip will keep moving and so are we”, he said. There appeared to be a broken water main and an unstable power pole.

* Slips and evacuations as parts of Wellington mark second-wettest day on record

A slip has closed a section of Onslow Road, between Mandalay Terrace and Benares St.

* Flooding, closed roads, separate East Coast family as rain continues to pummel region

City councillor Diane Calvert said the road was closed off between Mandalay Terrace and Benares St.

“It’s actually in a really interesting spot,” Calvert said – the road was at the top of the slip, with the earth falling away beneath it.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) confirmed that three trucks attended the landslide at 3.20pm on Thursday. The last truck left at 5.17pm.

Another existing slip, this time on Woodhouse Avenue in Karori, had also worsened during the day’s downpour, Calvert said.

Contractors were also on the scene here on Thursday afternoon, strengthening the site.

These slips are the latest in a series of landslides around the wider Wellington region, during what’s been a wet month.