MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) \u2014 Landslides hit a campground and a house in New Zealand and emergency crews were trying to rescue people buried in rubble, officials said Thursday.<\/b>
\nLandslides hit a campground and a house in New Zealand and emergency crews were trying to rescue people buried in rubble, officials said Thursday.
Emergency services were called to the slide at the base of Mount Maunganui on New Zealand\u2019s North Island after 9:30 a.m. The rubble hit Beachside Holiday Park in a town named after the extinct volcano.
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Police Superintendent Tim Anderson said the number of people missing was in the \u201csingle figures\u00a0\u00bb but didn’t say further how many were affected.
Another landslide hit a house overnight in the nearby Bay of Plenty community. Two people escaped the house but two others were missing, Anderson said. A rescue operation was underway there Thursday.
Further north near Warkworth, a man remained missing after floodwaters swept him from a road Wednesday morning as heavy rain lashed large swathes of the North Island, a police statement said.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon urged residents in affected areas to heed local authorities’ safety advice during the extreme conditions.
\u201cExtreme weather continues to cause dangerous conditions across the North Island. Right now, the government is doing everything we can to support those impacted,\u201d Luxon posted on social media.
At Mount Maunganui, no survivor had been recovered three hours after the slide, Fire and Emergency NZ commander William Pike said.
\u201cMembers of the public . tried to get into the rubble and did hear some voices,\u201d Pike told reporters. \u201cOur initial fire crew arrived and \u2026 were able to hear the same. Shortly after our initial crew arrived, we withdrew everyone from the site due to possible movement and slip.\u00a0\u00bb
No sign of life had been detected since, Pike said.
Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell said emergency crews were continuing a rescue operation at Mount Maunganui.
Mayor Mahe Drysdale said those unaccounted earlier had included people who had left the campground without notifying authorities. The campground was closed after the disaster.
Australian tourist Sonny Worrall said he was lazing in hot pools within the campground when he heard then saw the landslide.
\u201cI looked behind me and there\u2019s a huge landslide coming down. And I\u2019m still shaking from it now,\u201d Worrall told New Zealand 1News news service. \u201cI turned around and I had to jump out from my seat as fast as I could and just run.\u201d
He looked back to see the rubble carrying a travel trailer behind him.
\u201cIt was like the scariest thing I\u2019ve ever experienced in my life,\u201d Worrall said.<\/p>\n