At least two people have d!ed, with multiple children still missing, after massive landslides ripped through parts of New Zealand.
According to Mail Online, Foreign tourists, including Australians, were among those caught up in the chaos as caravans, tents, vehicles, and toilet amenities were seen in dramatic footage being flattened by the slip, which was caused by record-breaking rainfall in recent days.
Two people were k!lled in a slide, which hit a house in the community of Welcome Bay, also on New Zealand’s North Island, at 4.50am.
Another two people managed to escape the house, while the bodies of two who were trapped inside were recovered hours later, emergency management minister Mark Mitchell said.
The Beachside Holiday Park has since been evacuated, and the public is urged to avoid the area, as emergency responders launch a desperate search for those feared trapped.
Rescue workers have said there are no signs of life at the campsite, while Mitchell confirmed ‘at least one young girl’ is among those unaccounted for. Police Superintendent Tim Anderson added that the number of people missing was in the ‘single figures’.
Mitchell told RNZ that sections of the east coast resembled ‘a war zone’, with helicopters deployed to rescue families sheltering on rooftops from flooding, and local states of emergency declared in five regions in Northland and the East Cape.
Australian Sonny Worrall from Newcastle, NSW, was among dozens of holidaymakers caught up in the chaos, describing it as the scariest moment of his life.
‘I looked behind me, and there was a huge landslide coming down,’ he told TVNZ.
‘I turned around, and I had to jump out from my seat as fast as I could and just run. Looking behind me, there was a caravan coming right behind me. It all happened in a flash. I was fearing for my life. People were panicking everywhere.’