Children among several missing after landslide at iconic spot | World | News

Scores of people remain unaccounted for after parts of an iconic campsite on New Zealand’s North Island were destroyed by a landslide.

Children are believed to be among those missing after tents were destroyed and a campervan was thrown into a hot pool at the Mount Maunganui campsite as debris searched by emergency services, the New Zealand Herald reported.

The landslide at Mount Maunganui is a “developing situation”, Tauranga City Council said on Thursday (January 22).

“We are on the ground and working with emergency services to gather further information and provide support,” the council said.

“As far as we know, many people remain unaccounted for. Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this incident and their loved ones.”

Parents wait for news about their children at a surf club.

Minister Mark Mitchell told the New Zealand Herald that “young people” were among those not taken into account.

The council said most people had been evacuated from Mount Holiday Park and the campsite was closed until further notice.

Photos shared by local media show uprooted trees scattered on the streets, roads destroyed by floods, and structures dragged along the edges of the ground.

It was reported that it had rained in the region for two and a half months in the 12 hours until 6 am.

Tauranga recorded 198mm of rain during this period.

“In the last 24 hours, from 9am to 9pm, 274mm of rain fell in Tauranga, making it the wettest day on history,” meteorologist Mmthapelo Makgabutlane said, according to the New Zealand Hearald newspaper. “Records date back to 1910.”

Weather warnings have been lifted across the country, except for strong wind and heavy rain warnings for the Chatham Islands. Warnings will be valid until 05:00 on Friday.

A state of emergency has been declared in several parts of the region, including the Whangārei Region, the Hauraki Region and the Thames-Coromandel Region.