06-07-2025
Landslide hits well-known Island Bay house
The aftermath of a slip in Island Bay, Wellington.
Photo:
Supplied
A Wellington resident has broken her foot and her well-known house on the city's South Coast may now be out of use, after a major landslide brought down rocks and trees following
torrential rain last week
.
Deborah East says she had to evacuate from the property on The Esplanade due to the risk of falling rocks, and Island Bay residents were taking boxes to the site to help her husband move out.
She said it was a very large slip and it was now unsafe to be there.
"The whole house is under a lot of pressure from the weight of rocks. The pressure from behind has caused a dwang to actually come out of the joist and poke through into the room, and the front door is very stiff to open."
She said the slip occurred about 4.45pm on Friday. It also hit the gas water heater at the back of the house behind the kitchen and a water pipe, which caused water to dash down the steps and into the kitchen.
When she returned on Saturday early afternoon, a wayward rock fell on her foot and broke it.
The house is a well-known property in Island Bay, with a boat attached on the front of it. East, a former real estate agent, said the property was 100 years old.
"It was a beautiful house, it was a quirky house, and we loved it. But nobody's died, that's the big thing - we and our dogs have got out okay."
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