Landslip takes car off road
A car was swept off the road in a ‘‘massive’’ landslip, blocking a North Taranaki rural road.
The slip happened on Otaraoa Rd, about 30km northeast of New Plymouth in Tikorangi early yesterday morning, blocking both lanes of the road about 500 metres west of the Mangahewa Rd junction. The woman driver, who asked not to be named, said she was driving to work about 5.45am yesterday when she saw dirt flying down the hill towards her car.
She was too close to avoid it and said she thought it would hit the car. ‘‘I was just driving and I could see a clump, this massive clump, flying down but I was still driving because I didn’t click what it was. I didn’t realise but it [the slip] had picked up my car and was pushing me over, right on the fence line.’’
It was still dark at the time and the landslip meant she could not see the fence when her car came to a stop, leaving her panicked that she was teetering on the edge of a steep drop down the bank.
‘‘I was scared to open my car door.’’ Her husband was able to come and assess the situation and get her out of the car safely, but she and other residents in the area were fed up by the years of slips making the road dangerous to drive on, she said.
‘‘It’s just been endless – it’s just been years we’ve had to avoid slips, there’s always dirt on the road which makes it really slippery for cars. Half the time council just puts cones around it and does nothing.’’
Residents had made several calls to the New Plymouth District Council to complain about the slips, but nothing had been done to look at preventive measures like retaining walls, she said.
She and other residents along the road had been watching some trees precariously balance at the top of the cliffs for months as well, she said.