Rescuers try to reach people missing in landslides as rains wreak havoc in New Zealand

Two people have died and several are feared buried after landslides in New Zealand's North Island.

The deaths were reported at Welcome Bay, while rescue workers are still searching through rubble at a different site in a popular campground on Mount Maunganui.

There are no "signs of life", authorities said, adding that they have a "rough idea" of how many people are missing but are waiting for an exact figure. They provided no other details except that the group includes "at least one young girl".

The landslides were triggered by heavy rains over the last few days, which led to flooding and power outages across North Island. One minister said the east coast resembled "a war zone".

New Zealand is "heavy with grief" after the "profound tragedy" caused by recent weather, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on X.

Footage from the campsite on Mount Maunganui, an extinct volcano, shows a huge slip near the base of the volcanic dome, as rescuers and sniffer dogs comb through crushed caravans and flattened tents.

Authorities said that the search would continue through the night. "This is a complex and high-risk environment, and our teams are working to achieve the best possible outcome while keeping everyone safe," said Megan Stiffler, the deputy national commander for the Urban Search and Rescue team,

The extinct volcano is a sacred Māori site and one of the most popular campgrounds in New Zealand, with a local holiday website describing it as a "slice of paradise". But it has been repeatedly hit by landslides in recent years.

"I heard this huge tree crack and all this dirt come off, and then I looked behind me and there's this huge landslide coming down," Australian tourist Sonny Worrall told local broadcaster TVNZ.

"I'm still shaking from it now... I turned around and had to jump out of my seat and just run,"he added. He saw it happen while swimming in a hot pool.

Hiker Mark Tangney told New Zealand Herald he heard people screaming from under the rubble. "So I just parked up and ran to help.We could hear people screaming: 'Help us, help us, get us out of here'," he said.

Those calls persisted for about half an hour and then went silent, Tangney said.Rescue work will continue through the night, officials say A surf club in another part of Mount Maunganui has been evacuated following fears of more landslides.

A state of emergency has been declared in the Bay of Plenty where Mount Maunganui sits, and various parts of the North Island, including Northland, Coromandel, Tairāwhiti and Hauraki.

Several areas reported their wettest days on record on Thursday. Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty, for example, received three months worth of rain within a day, according to local media.

Some 8,000 people were without power as of Thursday morning, Radio New Zealand (RNZ) reported.

The wife of a man who was swept away in the Mahurangi River is holding out hope that he will survive.

"I know his personality is strong, wise," she told RNZ, adding that he was a fisherman back home in Kiribati and knew how to swim and dive.

The man, 47, was driving to work with their nephew when the car they were in fell into the river.He had pushed the nephew towards a branch so the nephew could hoist himself onto land; but the older man did not manage get back up himself, according to the report.

"It's been a very big event for us as a country, really hitting almost our entire eastern seaboard of the North Island," said Minister for Emergency Management Mark Mitchell.

"The good news is that everyone responded really quickly, and there was time to get prepared. That helps to mitigate and create a very strong response," he told RNZ.

December to February are typically the sunnier months in New Zealand but in recent years heavy rains and storms have become more frequent.

In February 2023, parts of the island were devastated by Cyclone Gabrielle, which is to date the costliest cyclone to hit the Southern Hemisphere, with damage amounting to NZ$13.5bn ($7.9bn; £5.9bn).This week's flooding has added to the toll for the local communities that are still rebuilding.Record-breaking rains spark landslide at Mount Maunganui campsite, with helicopter teams retrieving families from rooftops and local states of emergency declared

Emergency services in New Zealand are searching for several people, including a child, believed missing after a landslide hit a campsite during storms that have caused widespread damage across the North Island.

Emergency minister Mark Mitchell told RNZ that parts of the east coast looked like “a war zone”, with helicopters deployed to rescue families sheltering on rooftops from flooding, and local states of emergency declared in five regions across Northland and the East Cape due to days of record-breaking torrential rain.

The landslide struck on Thursday morning at a campground in the tourist hotspot of Mount Maunganui on the east coast. Mitchell confirmed that a young girl was among those unaccounted for.

“It’s a fluid and sensitive issue at the moment,” he said. “Everyone is working as hard as they can to get the best possible resolution possible, but in no doubt at all it is a very difficult and challenging situation.”

Fire and Emergency NZ spokesman William Pike said the first people on the scene heard calls for help from inside the landslip.“Members of the public ... tried to get into the rubble and did hear some voices,” he said.

“Our initial fire crew arrived and had the same were able to hear the same.”

Footage from Mount Maunganui revealed overturned camper vans and upturned trees. Witnesses told local news outlets they heard an incredibly loud noise before seeing a large chunk of hillside hit the campsite.

The aftermath of flooding that hit Punaruku in New Zealand’s North Island. People had to be rescued from their rooftops, said firefighters.

The aftermath of flooding that hit Punaruku in New Zealand’s North Island. People had to be rescued from their rooftops, said firefighters. Photograph: Tairāwhiti Fire and Emergency New Zealand

Alister McHardy, a fisherman who was nearby, told the NZ Herald said he heard “rolling thunder and cracking of trees”, before looking up and seeing “the whole hillside gave way”.

“There were people running and screaming and I saw people get bowled. There are people trapped,” he said.

Tauranga – the closest city to Mount Maunganui – received 295mm of rain in the 30 hours to 6am, before the landslide hit around 9.30am. Mount Maunganui’s population booms over summer as holidaymakers flock to the area’s beautiful beaches. The mountain, a volcanic dome at the end of peninsula, attracts tens of thousands of visitors during the same period.

An Australian man, Sonny Worrall, narrowly escaped the landslide while swimming in a nearby pool. “As I’m swimming I heard this huge landslide behind me, trees cracking, there was a caravan that almost hit me. I had to dive in the next pool,” he told news outlet Stuff. “It was the scariest thing I’ve ever felt in my life,” he said.

In Papamoa, south of Mount Maunganui, one person suffered serious injuries and another two people are missing after a landslide hit a home at 4am on Thursday. Police are resuming efforts to find a man in his 40s who was swept away at a river crossing near Warkworth, north of Auckland, on Wednesday.

Images soon began circulating showing flooded houses, farmland and community centres and roads cut off by landslides, and stories of harrowing escapes and incredible rescues are emerging. A community came to the aid of a 94-year-old man trapped by flood waters in Coromandel, while a woman was rescued by kayak as neck-high, fast-flowing water surrounded her home.

Tairāwhiti Fire and Emergency said it had rescued people from rooftops. Its photos showed houses inundated with logging waste, mud and water, and cars and fences largely buried.

“These are not training images,” the department wrote. “This is Punaruku, Te Araroa, this morning.”

Prime minister Christopher Luxon said the government was doing everything it could to support those affected by the extreme weather and thanked emergency crews for their efforts. “All those who are putting themselves in harm’s way to keep Kiwis safe, the whole country is grateful,” he said.

A tropical low is expected to bring more heavy rain on Thursday, the National Emergency Management Agency said. “Rain is falling on ground that’s already saturated, meaning impacts like fallen trees, landslides, flooding and dangerous river conditions are more likely.”