Landslide, lightning strikes hit region
A caravan owner was shocked to find her beloved 1975 Zephyr hanging over the edge of a bank after a slip forced it from its usual spot at a Taranaki campground.
Catherine Lawn said her newly renovated camper was seriously damaged in the landslide at the Oakura Beach Holiday Park last Wednesday.
Another caravan was also dislodged and sent downwards in the slip, which came after heavy rain.
‘‘I didn’t think it would be that bad when I got here,’’ Lawn said.
‘‘But when I got there thought, ‘I can’t get into it’.’’
Lawn said the damage inclued the caravan awning being ripped off, and her cocktail bar being destroyed.
She said the caravan had been her safe space during Covid.
‘‘I’ve had a great summer in that caravan,’’ she said.
‘‘I’m just hoping we can salvage it.’’
Paul Lobb, who has been building a house above the campground, described the scene as one caravan being pushed towards the ocean and hanging off a ledge, while the other was almost on its side.
There were a few onlookers at the scene once a digger arrived to clear the dirt and recover the caravans.
The slip was not the only
I weather-related incident in Taranaki last Wednesday.
In the early hours, Amy Lapwood, who lives in Mahoe, west of Stratford, woke to her windows violently rattling and immediately thought she was in an earthquake.
‘‘I thought the windows would break,’’ she said.
Lapwood also heard a loud bang and saw a ‘‘brilliant flash’’.
Once the sun came up, she discovered burn marks scribbled all over her lawn and realised it had been struck by lightning.
‘‘[My lawn] looks like a snake with acid on its belly has been through.’’
She shared her experience on Facebook, posting that she hoped the saying about lightning never striking twice in the same place was true.
There was no other damage to her property, but she said she had had been dealing with power outages all day.
Lapwood’s brush with lightning came hours before a heavy rain warning was issued for the Taranaki region from 9am-11pm.
MetService warned that that there could be 80-100mm of rain around Taranaki Maunga, with a risk of more thunderstorms and flooding.