Clifton Motor Camp (file image).
Photo: Supplied / Google Maps
Campers are shocked and devastated as a Hawke’s Bay campground is evacuated due to the “extreme” risk of a landslide, the manager says.
It comes three weeks after six people died in Mount Maunganui when a chunk of the maunga crashed onto a holiday park.
The Hastings District Council said it evaluated “at-risk” sites including the Clifton Motor Camp after that tragedy.
At 4.30pm on Thursday, the council told campers and permanent residents they had 24 hours to leave because a geotechnical report has found an extreme risk of landslides affecting the grounds.
“Heavy or prolonged rain, elevated groundwater levels, or an earthquake could cause the slope to fail,” the council said.
“If that occurred, soil, rocks and large trees would fall directly onto buildings and caravans located at the base of the slope.”
Hawke’s Bay is under a heavy rain watch from 3pm today.
The council said there would be little warning and limited opportunity to escape safely if a landslide occurred.
The council said making the site safe would require significant engineering and drainage works, likely costing several million dollars.
Unless that work was undertaken, the campground could not be considered safe to occupy.
There had been slips there in the past: one in 2011 damaged the toilet block and covered the playground, and one in 2019 that put two tourists in hospital.
A previous slip in 2011 covered the playground area.
Photo: Supplied / Hastings District Council
Hastings District Council chief executive Nigel Bickle said the decision was not a “knee-jerk reaction”.
“The advice is clear – the level of risk is extreme and cannot be ignored.”
Bickle understood it was distressing news for people who used the campground – some for many decades.
“But when expert advice tells us there is a credible threat to life, we have a responsibility to act.”
Campers shocked, devastated
Clifton Reserve Society’s Piki Wellwood-King – which leases the land from Hastings District Council – said the advice came out of the blue.
“Everyone here is in shock around the short notice, absolutely devastated trying to comprehend what’s really happening,” she said.
“The camp composes of people who live here permanently, people who live here seasonally, and the public who come in and rent a site,” she said.
“It’s really weighing heavy on everyone … it’s huge.”
Some had camped there for generations, and more than a dozen lived there permanently, she said.
But Wellwood-King said the advice to leave made “perfect sense” given the safety risk.
The council said staff were working with the society and support agencies to help residents with accommodation and support services, and to ensure they could retrieve their personal belongings.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.