Mauao landslip raises questions about council warnings and evacuations

Friday, 23 January 2026

Colin McGonagle was at the campsite two hours before the major landslide.

It was a sodden dawn at one of the country’s most iconic holiday spots — after skies unloaded more rain than many parts of Aotearoa receive in an entire year.

At the foot of Mauao, inside the Mt Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park, the deluge was already causing alarm. Before most campers were awake at about 5am, a woman began knocking on tents and caravans, urging people to leave because she feared the hillside above them was becoming unstable, according to the NZ Herald.

By first light, the warning signs were impossible to miss.

Long-term camp resident Paul Leslie went for a walk shortly after 7am and saw tracks around Mauao were closed, with Tauranga City Council staff assessing multiple slips that had already fallen. When he returned to the campground at about 7.30am and headed for the ablution block, muddy water was streaming down from the mountain and was “pouring down both sides of the building”.

A small slip had already given way on the hill according to Leslie and campers were complaining about mud pooling around the block. Ten minutes later, local resident Colin McGonagle watched as dirty water began “pouring” down the slope and forcing its way through a wall.

“You could just see the mud wanting to come out,” he said.

At 7.40am, McGonagle took photographs showing tents ringed by sludge, with thick slicks of mud spreading across the campground. Just after 8am, as campers began emerging from their beds, Tauranga City Council issued its first public warning of the day, posting on Facebook that Mauao would be closed because of “large slips”.

Photos taken by local Colin McGonagle show the Beachside Holiday Park the morning of the major landslide.

At 8.45am Mount Manuganui Lifeguard also posted on Facebook, saying Mauao has had some “significant” slips overnight as a result of “severe weather”.

“The base track has been washed out in several locations and is not accessible. Stay safe.”

Several people are unaccounted for after the slip hit a Mount Maunganui campsite.

Less than 45 minutes later, the mountainside above the campground collapsed.

Mauao gave way at about 9.30am, hurling caravans through the air and burying a toilet block as people ran for their lives.

Six people are believed to have been caught in the landslide - the youngest, a teenager aged 15.

Within hours of the disaster questions began to be asked about the council’s response to the one in one hundred years rainfall event - as owners of the campground.

A day later Mayor Mahé Drysdale would announce an independent review into the lead-up to the landslip, telling Stuff he was committed to getting answers “quickly”.

“That’s the least we can do to try and get some closure to the events that unfolded.”

So what led to the disaster?

Since the hillside collapsed, the Tauranga City Council has faced intense scrutiny, both online and in the community about why the campers weren’t evacuated, and why no-one foresaw the danger?

Drysdale says he’s aware of the conjecture and doesn’t want to “shy away” from any questions - it’s just that he doesn’t have all the answers, and his focus has to be on the search for survivors.

Should the campers have been evacuated, given the Council was telling the public Mauao was closed because of “large slips”?

“Look, I guess we were responding to the information we had at that time, and you know, there had been some significant slips around the rest of the Mauao,” Drysdale said. “So that was really the reason.”

What about the reports of a tree falling down and a small slip in the campsite in the hours leading up to the slip? Did the Council know?

Drysdale said he didn’t have the answer - yet.

Search for missing people in Mt Maunganui landslide continues

“We just need to be in a position, for the sake of the families and the community, that we are talking facts.”

Asked how many significant slips were on the mountain that morning, Drysdale said he didn’t know the exact number but said it was “a lot”.

Subsequently he heard “anecdotally” that there had been a small slip in the campground prior to the big one, and that “some campers had moved on”.

“But we just need to confirm that.”

What Drysdale did confirm was that the Council had cut down trees on Mauao “a few years ago,” but he was unsure if that was in the same area as the landslip.

Had Mauao’s stability in adverse weather events ever been raised with him since he was elected in July 2024?

“There's been multiple slips over the years. I think back in about 2019 there was a significant one that closed the base track for a while. My understanding is there have been reports etc done on those slips and the land stability.

So we need to look at those and understand, what did we know? What didn't we know? And you know, this was a one in 100 year event with over 200 mms of rain in 24 hours. So we need to take all that stuff into account.”