Hunua Gorge river is a raging torrent after heavy rains overnight
A second school campsite in the Hunua Ranges is being evacuated with the help of the military after torrential rain brought down a tree across a key access road.
The Auckland Council has confirmed about 150 pupils and 40 adults at the Hunua Falls Camp in Falls Rd are being evacuated after they were trapped at the church-run campsite this morning.
Northcote Primary School acting principal Jo Gregory said while the 191 students, staff and parents at the campsite were "perfectly safe" a decision was made to evacuate.
She said advice from Civil Defence and the possibility of quickly changing weather conditions meant it was time to leave.
She said the group of year 5 and year 6 students, aged 8 to 10, handled the situation "very well" as the river running at the bottom of the campsite grew rapidly.
Northcote Primary School sends its students to the camp in the Hunua Ranges annually, but Gregory said the group has never experienced such horrid conditions.
The children were due to leave the camp tomorrow but were walked out to waiting buses before being taken to Hunua School where an emergency welfare centre had been set up to cater for the stranded pupils.
Whenuapai CDRG departs base heading to Hunua School to assist in flooding evacuations, joining the 5 vehicles & personnel from Papakura Camp pic.twitter.com/k6UVmb1o89
Emergency evacuations began before daybreak as parents sleeping in tents started to float away when a torrent of water swept through Camp Adair at the foot of Auckland's Hunua Ranges.
Nearly 200 children and adults from two schools have been evacuated from waist-deep floodwaters at the camp overnight.
Groups of Year 5 and 6 children from Stanley Bay School on Auckland's North Shore and from Mangatawhiri School were ferried by tractor through the metre-deep water to safety.
Stanley Bay teacher Helen Pelham said two parents sleeping in tents woke about 4am to find themselves being swept away by the fast-rising floodwaters.
The pair quickly raised an alarm.
"There was a torrent running through the camp," Pelham said.
One cabin block was evacuated out by tractor but another could not be reached so parents and teachers waded through waist-high murky water to help trapped children through the flooded campground.
"If one of the children had tried to cross that it would have been a disaster," Pelham said.
Photos from the YMCA campsite show metre-deep water surrounding an ablution block.
Flooding at Camp Adair in the Hunua Ranges south of Auckland. Photo / Supplied
Pelham said the waters turned into a dangerous torrent within half an hour.
The large group of mainly 9- and 10-year-old children initially sought refuge at a local farm and then went to Hunua School.
Red Cross volunteers are providing welfare support to students & staff evacuated from Camp Adair last night, due to floods in #Hunuapic.twitter.com/vZFz7zKsjt
It's hoped to take the stranded children back home by buses, but many roads in the area remain cut off by flooding and it is unclear when that will happen.
Stanley Point School board chairman Greg Bella said everyone was safe after the unexpected evacuation.
"We're trying to get buses in at the moment to get them out," he said.
He said the children had just arrived for the camp, which was now suddenly cut short by the weather.
Auckland Civil Defence emergency management response manager Keith Souddes said emergency services helped evacuate the large group of school children.
"A significant amount of rain water has fallen in that area and most if not all of the roads are impassable by normal vehicles, so we're trying our best to get emergency services in there and get as much information as possible."
Flooding at Camp Adair in the Hunua Ranges south of Auckland. Photo / Supplied
YMCA Auckland chief operations officer Arvid Ditchburn said no lives were at risk and the children remained calm.
MetService said 166mm of rain had fallen in the Hunua Ranges overnight.
The Hunua Regional Park is now closed.
Dramatic picture taken of the flooding at Hunua Range Regional Park today by @AklCouncil regional park ranger. This park is now closed. pic.twitter.com/8bVBG5yvLe
