House owner wants mud slip inquiry

Press, 10 December 1983, Page 36

House owner wants mud slip inquiry

PA Tauranga The owner of a house damaged by a mud slip after continuous rain soaked the Tauranga region wants a public inquiry to investigate the cause. Mr L. Miller has said that vegetation clearance may have triggered the earth movement above his hillside home.

“A lot of questions have to be asked about developments which have occurred outside the Minden subdivision," he said.

"The slip came from beyond the subdivision. An inquiry would find out why the slip occurred. We certainly want some assurances before we move back into the house."

The Earthquake and War Damage Commissioner, Mr John Pritchard, and the member of Parliament for Kaimai, Mr C. B. Town-

shend, visited the Minden site yesterday. A garage and part of a bedroom were carried away by the mud stream which was 350 m long by 50m wide. Mrs Miller, who is pregnant. was resting in a bedroom when the slip crashed into the house. She ran 300 metres to a neighbour in the pouring rain and strong winds.

The acting resident engineer in the Ministry of Works and Development at Tauranga, Mr A. E. Hansen, said that tidying up of the slip area would take several days. The area is in a new subdivision with acre sections.

All highways and county roads in the storm area were open last evening and floodwaters at Te Puke, where 122 mm of rain fell in the 24 hours to yesterday morning, were receding.