Ōakura Bay in Northland could be cut off for several days after multiple slips and flood damage severed both road links to Whangārei, creating access constraints for emergency services, insurers, and loss adjusters. Local reserves board chair Glenn Ferguson said the northern route had been closed since Jan. 18, when heavy rain washed out the approach to a bridge at Ngaiotonga. Additional rainfall on Jan. 21, estimated at about 200 millimetres, caused a major slip at Helena Bay Hill on the southern road to Whangārei, along with several smaller slips between Helena Bay and Ōakura.
“So, we can’t go north, we can’t go south. We’ve had it before, and I guess we’ll have again in the future. I think it’s just part of living in paradise out here,” Ferguson said, as reported by RNZ. The loss of access is expected to slow on-site inspections, engineering assessments, and claims processing for affected properties. Ferguson said some assessors had visited before the most recent slip but further technical work would depend on when crews could safely return to the area.
One of the most significant local assets affected is the Ōakura Community Hall, a recently renovated community facility. On Jan. 19, a slip from the hillside behind the building went through the rear wall, moved across the stage, and left the interior filled with mud, trees, and other debris. Ferguson estimated the volume at around 60 cubic metres. He said he checked the hall again on Thursday morning to see whether further damage had occurred after overnight rain. Water was still running through the building but at a reduced rate, and he said there did not appear to be additional movement in the slip.
An insurance assessor inspected the building before road access was cut. Next steps will involve structural and geotechnical assessments by council and Natural Hazards Commission (NHC) engineers, who are expected to examine the land and structure at the back of the hall where the slip struck. “They were due here on Friday, but I don’t know when they’ll be able to get though,” Ferguson said. He said the interior would likely be cleared mainly by volunteers using buckets and wheelbarrows, with the possibility of sucker trucks helping to remove mud. Any cleanup effort will need to be coordinated with insurers and engineers to ensure damage is properly documented.
Ferguson said residents were continuing with property cleanup during breaks in the weather. “They’re out in the sunshine, we’ve got all the pumps that we can muster, and we’re pumping sections out so people get into their garages and low-lying properties so we can ascertain what’s happened,” he said. For insurers and NHC, the Ōakura situation highlights repeated slip risk in exposed coastal and hillside communities, and raises issues around the interface between land and building cover and long-term management of sites with recurring damage.
At Mount Maunganui in the Bay of Plenty, a separate landslip has raised questions about exposure at coastal holiday parks and nearby facilities. After several days of intense rain, a slip from Mauao – also known as Mount Maunganui – came down onto the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park at about 9:30am, hitting campervans, cars, and tents and striking a toilet-and-shower block. Police said several people, including a young girl, were missing, with the number described as being in “single figures.”
Fire and Emergency New Zealand crews have been searching through mud and debris with the support of sniffer dogs and heavy machinery. St John Ambulance declared a major incident, and police, firefighters, and paramedics established operations in and around the site. Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell said conditions remained changeable and that rescue operations were continuing, with land stability a key factor in determining how teams could work on the slope. He said geoscientists would assess the area before it was reopened to the public. Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale said authorities were reviewing check-in records and other information from the holiday park to confirm who was on site at the time of the slip. He noted that some campers may have left without formally checking out, making it more difficult to reconcile lists with those currently accounted for.
Witnesses at Mount Maunganui described the slip as sudden, allowing limited time to react. Camper Nix Jaques told RNZ she heard an “incredibly loud” noise and then saw the hillside moving onto structures. She said vehicles were shifted and that the slip struck an ablutions block where she believed people might have been showering. Australian visitor Sonny Worrall said he was in nearby hot pools when he heard a tree crack and saw the slide approaching. “People were in the pools, they were jumping out, running, they were screaming,” he told TVNZ. He said a caravan was pushed behind him as he ran and described it as the scariest experience he had been through.
The remainder of the holiday park was evacuated, and the Mount Maunganui Surf Life Saving Club was used as a triage and evacuation point. Surf Life Saving New Zealand cancelled an upcoming lifesaving sport competition at the club, citing the ongoing emergency and operational demands at the site. For insurers, the Mount Maunganui event involves potential property, motor, liability, and business interruption claims, and feeds into broader discussions on development, risk assessment, and underwriting in areas with known slip history on Mauao.
Police also reported a landslip at Welcome Bay, near Tauranga, where at least one house was damaged. Two occupants escaped, while two others were reported missing. Police district commander Superintendent Tim Anderson said rescue operations there, as at Mount Maunganui, depended on site safety. “We can’t put our staff in there if the earth’s still moving,” Anderson said, adding that it remained possible someone could still be found alive in the Mount Maunganui debris, although authorities had not yet confirmed final numbers of missing people.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the government was “doing everything we can” to support affected communities and urged residents to follow local authority instructions. For New Zealand’s insurance sector and NHC, the events at Ōakura Bay, Mount Maunganui, and Welcome Bay form part of a wider sequence of severe weather and land movement incidents. The latest slips are likely to inform future work on hazard mapping, pricing, and availability of cover in higher-risk zones, and on how public and private insurance arrangements share and manage slip-related losses.
