Home wrecked, but family in good heart

Nigel Nation and granddaughter Jessie with the long-lost photo of his father. Picture / Mark Mitchell

Ann and Nigel Nation felt elation, despair and shock as they saw half of their Kelson home being demolished yesterday.

"It was quite spectacular, terrifying stuff, but quite exciting with all that noise and hustle and bustle," Mrs Nation told the Herald.

The Hutt City Council decided to pull down part of the house, which was hovering over the edge of a massive slip, so engineers could fix a broken sewerage pipe under the property.

About 8am, a digger was used to break down the side wall and roof of the two-storey house. A worker attached to the digger's bucket was then gingerly lifted around the lounge area to retrieve as many possessions as possible.

"We're so grateful," said Mr Nation. "We didn't expect to get anything out. We're in a bit of a daze at the moment. The past few days have been a bit surreal."

The Nations managed to save their most treasured possessions: a 100-year-old rug and an antique wall unit made of native wood that had been in the family for generations.

And among a box of books, Mr Nation found a black-and-white framed photo of his eldest daughter with his father, who died 20 years ago - a picture he thought he had lost.

He thought perhaps his mother, who died 10 years ago yesterday, had blessed them and was watching over the morning's events.

"She might have brought this fine weather."

The council termed it a successful operation although large chunks of the house, including parts of the back walls, slid down into the gully.

"We were pretty certain some would go down, but it didn't go far and most of it is in a retrievable position in reach of the digger,"said council spokesman Don Carson.

"The other half of the house will remain there for the time being, but will eventually have to go. How that happens is still to be decided. We just needed to clear out the dangerous bit and we've done that."

He said one of the four families that was evacuated on Monday could now go back; a second family was confident their house was on bedrock and had also returned.

Council workers temporarily fixed the broken pipe, which had been gushing out sewage since Monday and making the landslide more unstable.

Mrs Nation said she and her husband had yet to decide where to go.

"We don't have our own roof over our heads any more and I don't know what we're going to do, but we'll think about that tomorrow."