At the top of the massive Helena Bay Hill landslide and a month into the hands-on part of the job diggers on March 18, fill one of 15,000 truckloads carrying away its 250,000 tonnes of debris. Physical slip clearance work started on February 25 after several weeks of planning.
Photo: Supplied/Fulton Hogan
New aerial images show the full scale of Northland’s Helena Bay hill landslide as clearance reveals hundreds of boulders, many bigger than cars.
The images will be shown to the storm-hit community next week as part of a special Ōakura Civil Defence recovery workshop.
Physical work clearing the 250,000 tonne now two-month old landslide has been underway since February 25.
The March 18 contractor Fulton Hogan images show hundreds of huge boulders, with some larger than a car, have been revealed during initial clearance work at the top of the slip.
A worker standing beside the digger at the bottom left-hand corner of this aerial photo appears no bigger than a tiny orange freckle. It illustrates the massive scale of Helena Bay hill landslide clearance. Hundreds of bigger-than-truck-sized boulders uncovered en route are adding extra challenges.
Photo: Supplied/Fulton Hogan
Some are too big to be taken away by trucks and will have to be blasted to break them up.
Around 15,000 truckloads of landslide debris need to be removed during clearance work which is expected to be completed by June, when Whangārei District Council will look at what sort of roading repairs may be required.
The slip is blocking the main southern entrance road to the severe weather-hit Whangaruru coast.
Ōakura community members at the Civil Defence recovery workshop on Thursday March 26 will also hear about the area’s Kāiikanui Road southern detour and their community’s storm-damaged hall.
Oakura community hall was badly damaged by a slip on Sunday January 18.
Photo: LDR
The interactive workshop aims to provide on-the-ground recovery information after Ōakura and surrounds were hit by destructive weather in January when more than a summer’s worth of rain fell overnight.
Specialist Whangārei District Council Civil Defence recovery team staff will be at the workshop to update the community on larger-scale issues, including the Helena Bay hill slip that’s expected to take 15,000 truckloads to clear.
The landslide that hit Ōakura’s community hall, public toilets, business and homes can be seen in this photo of the coastal settlement.
Photo: LDR
Staff will also cover more localised weather event consequences with individual Ōakura property owners who might need more information or help.
The workshop will be held at the Ōakura sports complex in the settlement’s Wharua Road from 2pm-4pm.
It is predominantly angled towards residents, bach owners and others dealing with issues in the coastal settlement of Ōakura, but people outside the coastal settlement can also attend.
The workshop will also provide updates about the geology of the slip that hit Ōakura’s community hall and resulted in it being red stickered, along with the community’s adjacent public toilets.
In a recovery milestone, the public toilets were reopened on Thursday March 19.
The 17km Kaiikanui Road detour route two months on from its January 22 start will also feature at the workshop.
The southbound pilot vehicle arrives with its convoy at the southern end of the Whangaruru coast’s Kaiikanui Road detour.
Photo: LDR
Ōakura wastewater will also be discussed. Properties which are not yet on the coastal settlement’s reticulated sewerage system will be able to find out about joining it – as part of efforts to reduce sewage contamination in floodwaters from septic tanks.
The workshop focuses solely on Whangārei District Council Civil Defence recovery.
It comes after a number of earlier multi-agency on-the-ground recovery hubs around the weather-hit Whangaruru district. These in contrast brought together a wider range of organisations involved in emergency response work.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.