Sliding hill has rescuers running for their lives

By AINSLEY THOMSON

Patrick Wynne of St John Ambulance said rescuers digging for Beverley Freeman had just spotted her boot when the hillside above gave way. Picture / Alan Gibson

Rescuers spotted the boot of Beverley Freeman among the wreckage of her house, but were forced to run for their lives when a second mudslide crashed down the hill.

Seconds earlier they had been cutting through a pohutukawa tree that had powered into the house at Bryans Beach and were shovelling mud in a desperate attempt to save the 67-year-old woman.

But she became the first victim of the storm on Saturday. Her body was recovered last night. Rescuers spoke to the Herald about their frustration in having to abort the rescue attempt, and their growing fear as the mud poured down the hill and on to the road in the tiny Eastern Bay of Plenty beach settlement.

St John Ambulance area manager Patrick Wynne, who was among those searching for Mrs Freeman, said they had people watching the hill behind the house for mudslides as they dug through the debris.

They had just spotted Mrs Freeman's boot when the second slip started.

"There was this almighty crack and the hillside gave way. The people watching yelled, 'Run!' and I believed, I ran."

The mudslide ploughed into the house next door crushing it and shunting it off its foundations.

A woman there had just left the house with cups of tea for the search party. The rescuers and neighbours were forced to flee.

"Mud was up to my knees and was flowing down the road like lava," said Mr Wynne.

The decision was then made to evacuate the whole settlement.

One local man said Mrs Freeman's husband, who had been clearing a drain with her when the mudslide hit, was still desperately calling for his wife and had to be coaxed to leave the destroyed house.

By that stage leaving the settlement by road had become treacherous.

Bryans Beach resident Doug Brown had to carry an elderly woman from her home on his back as the urgency of the situation became obvious and emergency services staff worked to find all the residents.

The evacuated residents were eventually taken to a marae on the outskirts of Opotiki.

Yesterday evening locals were returning to their homes in the usually idyllic beachside settlement to survey the destruction.

Six houses were being assessed for structural soundness and two had been completely destroyed.

One woman who witnessed the mudslide said she would never live in the settlement again.