Oamaru Volunteer Fire Brigade members and Waitaki District Council staff inspect a landslide at a home on Nith St yesterday. Photo: Jules Chin The sound of concrete breaking and wood snapping and the fear of a possible earthquake assailed an Oamaru family yesterday when a landslip occurred at the back of their property. A state of emergency was declared in Waitaki early on Monday after severe rain and flooding. Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz), police and Waitaki District Council (WDC) staff were at the scene of the slip, immediately evacuating the family from the property. David and Cheryl Caldwell, their son Adam and grandson Kyan were in the house at the corner of Tay and Nith Sts when the slip occurred about 3pm yesterday. ‘‘It gave us a real fright — the slip had probably gone down about half a metre, with dirt coming down,’’ David Caldwell said. They ran out to check on another son Logan, who was in the outhouse when the slip broke through a wooden wall and hit the exterior of the building next to the main house. ‘‘I heard the concrete breaking and then I heard wood snapping ... I thought it was an earthquake initially. ‘‘I jumped up and looked outside and saw water pouring out, then I saw all the wood bent and broken, there was probably a couple of tonnes of dirt there and it was all waterlogged.’’ Adam ran out of the house to check on Logan, and their mother Cheryl helped to comfort her grandson Kyan who was ‘‘a bit anxious’’ as he also thought it was an earthquake, she said. The family have been living at the property since 1990. They experienced a similar incident nine years ago when the town was hit by heavy rain and flooding. Fenz Waitaki group manager Assistant District Commander Mike Harrison said Oamaru Volunteer Fire Brigade members surveyed several properties around the Caldwells’ home and secured the area. ‘‘It’s a minor slip at this stage, but we are assessing it and keeping an eye on it and making sure it hopefully doesn’t go any further,’’ he said. ‘‘There doesn’t appear to be any signs of any further land movement or damage,’’ he said. He said all local fire brigades had been ‘‘extremely busy’’ during the heavy rain and had received ‘‘really good support’’ from professional firefighters from Dunedin, the WDC, Hato Hone St John, Civil Defence and other emergency services. WDC senior building inspector Daniel Heather was also on the scene doing a ‘‘rapid building assessment’’ . ‘‘We’ll look and see what further action is required.’’ Yesterday, Mayor Mel Tavendale said the state of emergency would remain in place until at least today, as more bad weather was expected overnight which might exacerbate the already wet conditions.
