Slip crashes through house after new retaining wall collapses

A massive landslip crashed through a Whanganui house just two years after the owner spent thousands of dollars on new drainage and retaining wall damaged after a storm in 2010.

Chrissie Zurcher was in the Hawkes Bay visiting friends at the weekend, so it was her daughter, Marie Haira, who made the discovery of water at least 30cm deep in the ground level of her two-storey house on Turoa Rd in Whanganui East,.

The retaining wall which failed when the slip occurred. Photo / Marie Haira

However, once inside they found the embankment had smashed its way through the back wall with sludgy dirt and water cascading through her spare bedroom and bathroom and into the rest of the house.

The flooding was so intense that water seeped through downstairs and squirted out between the two levels of the house. Mrs Haira said her mother is yet to arrive home from the Hawkes Bay as the roads were still closed, but it was fair to say that she was "devastated" by what happened.

"That's putting it mildly," she said.

Whanganui resident Chrissie Zurcher had a landslip crash through her house just after spending thousands of dollars on new drainage and a retaining wall. Photo / Marie Haira

She said the house was a write-off but Ms Zurcher had plenty of whanau to stay with.
It was now the fifth landslip her mother had experienced in the last five years.

Mrs Haira said her mother had tried to get council to help out with the retention wall but they had washed their hands of it, claiming the water was coming off 'private property' thereby meaning it was a problem that she had to deal with.

She said the water came down from the Bastia Hill at the rear of the property where she believed a new subdivision was taking place putting pressure on the stormwater drainage.

The inside of Whanganui resident Chrissie Zurcher's house after the slip slammed into it. Photo / Marie haira

Meanwhile, Mrs Haira said she also self-evacuated her children from her house, around the corner on Ikitara Rd, but the main damage was limited to the ground level, or man cave, which was flooded.

She said one of the town's bridges re-opened about 10.30am today so they would make their first journey into town for supplies in two days before getting stuck into the clean-up.

The outside of the house after the slip slammed into it. Photo / Marie Haira