A Northeast Valley man who was evacuated after a slip left his kitchen hanging in mid-air has given up hope of saving his home.
Marty Duffy, whose house is up a driveway at the end of Allen St, returned to his property this morning to find more of the earth beneath his home had been swept away beneath his kitchen by a torrent coming down from Pine Hill.
"I was all ready to come today and start trying to save it, but now that I have seen how bad it has got I can't see any safe way of [saving it].''
He had called Earthquake Commission (EQC) to inform them of the situation and was told the damage to his property was "worst case they had heard of''.
Today he was clearing the driveway with a digger so he could get access to his vehicle and after that it would be a matter of waiting for the EQC to come and assess the damage and then pay out his claim.
Mr Duffy, his cat Honky and his dog Belle, were evacuated by police about 4pm yesterday after the earth slipped away from in front of his house about an hour earlier.
"I just heard all this banging in the kitchen and went out there and opened the window to have a look outside and the window wouldn't open.
"So I looked out the other window and ... where there was a paddock there is now a bloody great canyon,'' he said last night.
He stayed at his girlfriend's house - who lives on the opposite side of the valley - over night and with his house teetering on the edge of the slip is likely to be there for a bit longer.
